Topic by Jake Johnson

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  • Jake Johnson
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Topic: An older but serious discussion of "Tone Building"

Proceedings of the  Piano Technicians Conference, 1916-1919:

http://ia600807.us.archive.org/9/items/...12pian.pdf

Some of this will be familiar, but there are some arguments that may interest us all in the details, such as:

A 50% allotment to the fundamental with the next 7 partials declining sequentially produces a pleasing mezzo-soprano tone. (I think I already knew this as the Steinway ideal and we've all seen the declining sequence of partials, but I do wonder: 50% of what? Of the entire combined amplitude of sounds?) (page 17)
EDIT: Yes, after reading a little further, that is what he means. The speaker, F.E. Morton, was an acoustic engineer with the American Steel and Wire Company.

High tension may reduce the intensity of the fundamental. (page 18) He's touching on string gauges and composition and the increasingly popular, dangerous he is implying, tendency towards higher tunings.

With perfectly hard hammers, the longer the hammer contact, the lower the intensity of the upper partials. (page 18. From Helmholtz originally.)

Softer hammers can compensate for using a strike point that is less than 1/8 of the string length. (page 18)

And more...

Anyway, I hope I haven't posted a link to this before. Found it after reading the PW thread about string composition and scaling that began at http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...ost2020425 and continued on into http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthre...106/1.html . Larry Buck also kindly posted a catalog from the American Steel and Wire Company (the sponsors of the conference) describing and giving their gauges for pianos of the era: http://www.ejbuckpiano.com/CatalogueASW.pdf

(Seems as though we need new parameters: Carbon content, break weight, elasticity...

Last edited by Jake Johnson (23-02-2013 20:42)

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: An older but serious discussion of "Tone Building"

If they did not decide yet s after so long, why would we be able to decide.

Háaa háaa...  :-)



One question, and please forgive me if I talk some nonsense:

Is that possible or desired, to try change piano sound, by altering the wire uniformity along the string lenght ?

For example, the copper wire  that is placed in spiral along the steel wire fo bass strings. What about use a copper wire with a variable tickness, like one thickness for the start of the spiral in one side of the string, and finish in another tickness in the other side ?

Last edited by Beto-Music (24-02-2013 00:37)

Reply by tractor_music

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Re: An older but serious discussion of "Tone Building"

Beto-Music wrote:

If they did not decide yet s after so long, why would we be able to decide.

Háaa háaa...  :-)



One question, and please forgive me if I talk some nonsense:

Is that possible or desired, to try change piano sound, by altering the wire uniformity along the string lenght ?

For example, the copper wire  that is placed in spiral along the steel wire fo bass strings. What about use a copper wire with a variable tickness, like one thickness for the start of the spiral in one side of the string, and finish in another tickness in the other side ?

Mere manufacturing difficulties, nothing that COULDN'T be done, just not practical for the relatively low market volume.

There are a couple of threads on pianoworld that might interest you, one on longitudinal vibrations and one on the quadratic effect. 
The links included in those threads are more interesting (to me) than the banter of the threads themselves.