Aluminum Wound Strings

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Frank Weston wrote:

> Newton and List,
>
> Just out of curiosity, why would the windings more likely be iron than
> aluminum?  Is there an easy test to determine what the winding might be?
> Last set of Stieff strings I sent to Schaff, they claimed the smaller bass
> windings were aluminum, and matched them with copper.  Seemed to work OK,
> but I'd like to try for more authenticity this time.

Because aluminum wasn't used much until about the fifties or so. Even then, they oxidized
rather quickly and most manufacturers quit using them as they discovered how quickly the
tone deteriorated.


> I have and use rescaling software, and I've rescaled a piano or two when no
> other guidance was available or when the piano was just plain bad; however,
> when I have the original scale on a fine piano,  I am wary of trying to
> improve upon it.  I figure the guys who built it knew a lot more than me,
> and used the best rescaling software available - a well trained human ear.
> Moreover, the old designs were fine tuned and improved year after year
> after year, so they had lots of time to get it right.  Chances of me
> improving the scale with just one shot, no matter how good the software,
> are pretty slim.  Am I wrong in this thinking?
>
> Frank Weston
>
> ----------

By saying this, are you implying that nothing much has been learned about how pianos work
in the last 50 to 100 years? A position that I, for one, take exception to.

I think you give the early designers a bit more credit than they deserve when it comes to
stringing scales. It's not that they didn't try hard, they did. It's just that they didn't
have very good tools to work with. Either in the mathematics they had available or in
their understanding of how the piano worked. Don't believe me? Just spend some time with
the book "Piano Tone Building." Or with some of William Braid White's writing, or even
Samuel Wolfenden -- two of the top men in the field at the time.

I agree with you on one point, however, no matter how good it is, software by itself does
not a good scale make. I've seen a lot of really bad "rescaling" inflicted on otherwise
descent pianos, but I've also seen and heard some really good modern scales installed on
older pianos. The computer is a marvelous tool, but it must be combined with a good
understanding of how string scales work and how they interact with the rest of the piano.
If it is, then the chances of improving on the original stringing scale with just one shot
are excellent indeed. Every stringing scale of every piano that comes through our shop
gets measured and the scale gets analyzed. So far, every one of them has gotten a new
stringing scale. Is each one the absolutely perfect scale for that piano? Perhaps not. But
they are always a dramatic improvement.

Regards,

Del