Interesting H.F.Miller Upright

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Gordon,

You are assuming that there was some semblance of reason to the original
scale.  There might not have been.  What you are finding is quite common
when looking at original scales from old pianos.

Quite frequently the original scale was laid out by calculating just a few
notes on the scale.  Typically every A and the end notes of each section.
Sometimes the end notes were left out because it was felt that the bridge
needed to be straight so that it did not 'impede the motion of soundwaves
inside the bridge.'  Hence the extreme length changes across the break.

Actually, very few piano makers even went this far.  For the most part they
would simply copy the basic scaling from some other piano that they heard
and liked.  Sometimes they would copy accurately and sometimes not.  If not,
they would end up with some pretty wild scales.  I used to spend quite a lot
of time trying to figure out what some old designer was up to with some of
these scales when in fact they weren't up to anything.  They had no idea
what they were doing, scaling wise.

About the only thing you can do with some of these old scales is to make
them less bad than they were originally.  Unless, of course, you want to
make new bridges for the piano.  Then you can straighten out at least some
of the worst of the problems.

Regards,

Del
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Designer & Builder
Hoquiam, Washington  USA
E.mail:  pianobuilders@olynet.com
Web Site:  http://pianobuilders.olynet.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: <PNOTNR@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: March 19, 2000 5:07 PM
Subject: Interesting H.F.Miller Upright


> List,
>
> I'm hoping that someone on this list may have in their records the scaling
> information for a 100 year old Henry F. Miller Upright.  I have one (1896,
> ser.#24438) and the scale and speaking lengths are very strange.
>
> I have Tremaine Parsons PSCALE program, and I'm confident that I'm using
it
> correctly.  I've had good success rescaling the bass but the treble
section
> speaking lengths are not working well.  I either get extreme inharmonosity
> with medium tension, or I get normal inharmonosity range with extremely
low
> tension.
>
> The top 8 unisons were strung with #11 1/2 wire, then 2 unison of #12.
This
> piano has a full iron plate, and is one of the biggest uprights I've seen.
>
> Another problem area is between notes D5 and D#5, (or notes 54 and 55)
This
> being the mid treble break.  Speaking lengths increase smoothly down from
C8
> down to D#5, at which point each half step down is 9 or 10 mm longer then
the
> previous note.  Suddenly the half step between D#5 and D5 is an increase
of
> 46 mm, then the speaking lengths increase smoothly from there.
>
> This piano is interesting in that it has a very ornate case, and has a
neat
> feature of the case being removable from the strung back as one unit.
Kind
> of like removing a mask!
>
> If anyone is interested, I can e-mail more information.  And if any of you
> out there with the PSCALE program are interested, I can send the info so
that
> you can graphically see how bizarre the scaling of this instrument is.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gordon Large, RPT
> Mt. Vernon, Maine