[CAUT] 1/4 tone piano conversion

[Fred Sturm]

Yep, as Ron says, a new and differently designed bridge would be  
needed. I don't think a new plate would be absolutely necessary, but  
you'd sure have to do a big modification. You would need the top note  
(C8) to be two octaves lower than it is (tuned to C6), so you'd need  
close to 4x the speaking length. Might be possible to cut away some  
plate and add a hitchpin rail lower down. You would probably do away  
with cross stringing, and have it be straight strung, so no need for a  
separate bass bridge, but you'd need to attach a new hitchpin rail  
there as well.
	Sauter did a series of odd pianos in the 30's, including 1/8 and 1/16  
tone, for a world expo, especially for the works of a particular  
Mexican composer whose name escapes me at the moment. They showed the  
1/16 tone at a couple PTG conventions - one octave total over 96  
notes. It has a bridge that slopes very, very gradually, staying in  
the upper range of the board. 1/4 tone would be less extreme,  
obviously, but you can't just change wire sizes on a standard piano  
and manage to tune that way. You'd be raising or lowering pitch one to  
two octaves at the extremes. Just not physically possible. A big  
project. Sauter might be willing and able to give you some specs that  
could be used as advice, a starting point.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Dec 3, 2007, at 9:01 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

>
>> Caut Listmembers,
>> I have a request from the composer in residence here to convert a  
>> Baldwin upright school-piano (late 70s early 80s vintage) into a  
>> quarter-tone piano.  He suggested keeping C4 at standard pitch.  I  
>> explained the need for rescaling and he still really wants the  
>> entire piano permanently converted.
>> Has anyone done this?  Are there string-scale people out there  
>> willing to take re-scaling this on?  Has anyone programmed an ETD  
>> to do this (sorry I only do ET & WT(s) aurally).  I have a  
>> Verituner; has anyone programmed it for 1/4 tone tunings?
>> Andrew C. Anderson
>
>
> There's a bit more involved than changing string sizes. You'll need  
> to change string lengths too, which in keeping C-4 at standard  
> pitch, will put the new bridge well into the plate at the top end.  
> So you'll be making a new plate too, with new soundboard and rib  
> scale, new bridges, and a new string scale. It might get a little  
> expensive.
>
> Come to think of it, you'll likely put the the bass bridge right up  
> against the middle of the tenor bridge too, which might not work too  
> well.
>
> Ron N