Comparing piano belly to other instruments, was Re: The finite life of wood grain

[Shawn Brock]

Mike,

while I have no information to offer you I will say its about time someone 
caught on to the similarities of the guitar and the piano.  I knew a lot 
about guitars long before I became a piano technician and I probably would 
have went into guitar and mandolin building if my eye sight would have aloud 
me to.  The finish is such a important part of the product though, so that 
let me out.  I have built guitars and had them finished by other luthiers 
and they turned out to be wonderful instruments.  One of the big names in 
Nashville still plays one of the guitars I built when I was 17 (we grew up 
together).  After becoming a piano technician I found it to be funny that 
people had not experimented with different materials to make soundboards. 
While some of the woods used in guitars would probably never be strong 
enough to use in pianos it still seems that we have somewhat had a lack of 
experimentation.  In the guitar world the markings of the origin of the 
different kinds of spruce can make a lot of difference to the buyer.  We 
have luthiers who swear that Engelmann is the best while others might prefer 
to stay with the more commonly used Sitka or Adirondack or European Spruce. 
The one thing I learned from possessing various high dollar string 
instruments is the wood used to make the top makes a lot of difference in 
the tone.  Woods like Redwood provide a vary dark and rich sound partially 
because of its softness, while Spruce has a little more midrange sound. 
Interesting discussion!

Regards,
Shawn Brock, RPT
513-316-0563
www.shawnbrock.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Spalding" <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: Comparing piano belly to other instruments,was Re: The finite life 
of wood grain


> Jude Reveley/Absolute Piano wrote:
>> It is still another thing yet, to then draw any conclusion from a 
>> comparison of a violin to a piano, the piano being strain bearing. Just 
>> pluck a violin string. It makes a wonderful thunk we call "pizzacato," 
>> and it is used with extraordinary and delightful effect by all the 
>> masters; but it is the last type of sound I would want on anything 
>> resembling a piano.
> We hear the violin analogy with some regularity, probably because of the 
> continuing fascination with the  "secret" of Stradivari's tone.  As one 
> expert puts it, the secret is that there isn't a secret.  Anyway, as you 
> point out, violins have too many differences from pianos to make a useful 
> analogy.
>
> I'm more interested in the similarities between pianos and guitars. 
> Soundboard is a flat panel of spruce: check.  Spruce ribs/braces which 
> impose a crown in the panel: check.  Steel strings, plain and wrapped, 
> which impose a strain on the crowned panel: check.  Plucking yields a 
> sustained tone:  check.  Failure modes include soundboard cracks and rib 
> separation:  check.  I'm preparing a chapter technical comparing the 
> design/construction/voicing of these two belly systems - is anyone aware 
> of any existing work out there that I could refer to?
>
> thanks
>
> Mike
>