Stringing Scales

[William Bailer]

On Wed, 14 Aug 1996, John W. McKone wrote:
      (Mark said):
>>  I routinely rescale the pianos that I restring, including (the smaller model)
>>Steinways, and can say from experience that once you get above the problematic
>>tenor area, wire size makes little difference to the tone - within reason, of
>>course. However, changing treble wire sizes *can* make a noticable
>>difference in the inharmonicity - enough to change the way the piano
>>tunes.

> Mark,
> Are you saying here that inharmonicity has no effect on the perception of
> tone?  If so that seems to me to be (sorry, but I can't resist it) a bit of
> a stretch.
> Inharmonicity, and therefore tunability are far to integral to what we
> percieve as tone to be seperated in the way you seem to be suggesting.
>   [ John ]

John and Mark,

We must be very careful here, to keep our terms straight and be sure we
understand each other.  If Mark means "the inharmonicity of a single
note does not effect the tone", he is right.  Human beings cannot
perceive stretch in a single tone.  This may seem peculiar, but imagine
the consequences if we could!  Piano tones would be imperfect!  But you
might say, "can't we hear whether an octave is perfect?"  The answer is:
no we can't.  I am talking about pure tones, no harmonics.  The
harmonics in a piano tone are stretched, and not exact multiples, yet we
do not hear beat rates--  it can (in a good string) sound very steady
and pure.  I ask:  if think stretch in a piano tone can be perceived,
what is the difference that is perceived?  How could one describe it, if
there are no beats, conflicts, or differences in amplitude?

Just something to think about,

Bill Bailer

\\\  William Bailer ("Bill")
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