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I could not go this year. Any interesting news?

Hello Duke,

There were some very good classes but, as always, two classes I wanted to attend were happening at the same time. It was tremendous to reconnect with old friends and make a few new ones as well. Interesting news? Hmmm...

There were a few new providers (at least new to me) of rebuilding tools and components. I met a few people I have already dealt with within the industry, but nothing earth shattering, at least from my perspective.

Anybody else?

Hi Rich,

i was very impressed by Chris Brown´s grand piano action bench.

What a pleasure to meet you personally at our late night hang around in the hotel lobby!

I was there and taught three topics. LightHammer Tone Regulation, Hybrid Wire Scales, and Fully Tempered Duplex Scale.

I brought an 1979 Aeolian era Chickering 501, (5'1") grand that incorporated all of the technology I taught. The piano was in my class room.

I spent so much time talking and attending other classes that I didn't get into the display hall except for a few brief moments and each time I was there, I would look for Rich and no one was at the Cunningham display. So I missed meeting him.

The number of technicians in their twenties and thirties was way higher than I have observed at Conventions held in the past decade that I have attended. I talked with quite a few of them and Nathan Mills, RPT shared his room with me. Compared to when I stated at PTG in 1973, these technicians are far better grounded in basic principles.

I made new acquaintances including PW poster Peter W Grey

Got to two of Ed McMorrow's classes and enjoyed them.

Also Del Fandrich's class on dampers was quite good.

Ed,

I am so sorry I missed you sir. I was certain we would bump into each other. Also, I only found out about your piano AFTER the convention. I would have loved to have seen it.




The pleasure was mine Bernhard!

Ed McMorrow's Chickering was quite impressive. Plus, I benefited from his hybrid scaling class.

One very interesting class was Keith Kopp's tuning class. The information on precisely what we are hearing with the "beats" was enlightening, and a bit different from what we were taught, though I admit I cannot fully explain it right at the moment.

What I do recall from the presentation is that all partials/overtones sound the same. IOW if you could disect any sound and isolate the specific overtones that make it up, they would all sound the same (different frequencies...but all the same quality). It is the specific combination and AMPLITUDE of these overtones that make up the whole sound...be it a tuba, a piano string, or a voice...anything. He played the individual overtones of two different sounds, one by one added on top of each other...it was not until about the fifth in the series that we could recognize that the sound was a chime (hit with a mallet). He did the same with a guitar string sound...we could recognize it after about four partials sounded. However, the point is that when starting out, the two different sounds were identical, but as the partials were added at different AMPLITUDES their sound quality changed. Very interesting (I thought so anyway).

It all helped explain a few things we do with unisons which I cannot get into here right now.

Pleasure meeting Ed, Keith, and Bernhard too...possibly others I can't think of right now.

Pwg

I would have liked to have gone. I grew up less than 20 miles from there. Worked at Reifsnyder's piano store years ago. (They closed in 2014, I think, sad, as they were like 100+ years old.)

I've heard the 2019 convention is in Tucson, AZ. Does anyone know whether the 2020 location is even planned yet?

Yes, you would have benefitted.

Well, there's a conference coming up in Hawaii in October. Just a few steps away from TN!

Lol

Pwg

One consolation, Don Manino will be in the Chicago area on August 31.