[pianotech] Chickering's splayed actions...Why?

[William Truitt]

Jim:

 

I think your question falls into the category of The Great Mysteries of
Chickering Piano Design.   As a rebuilder who has suffered at the rim of
many a Chickering, I too have a list of questions I want to ask dear old
Jonas and his descendants when I pass through the Pearly Gates.  Like,
whassup with that four piece pinblock?  And why do you hate me so much -
what did I ever do to you - I wasn't even born yet!  

 

I suspect it has more to do with a designer falling too much in love with
his ideas, no matter how bad they are.  If you have ever looked at patents
for piano design, you know he surely wasn't alone. 

 

Look at the bright side!   At least it's not a Kranich and Bach.  

 

And yet I confess to a perverse affection for these old Chickerings.  I know
it's not good for me, but I can't stop myself.  

 

Will

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of jim ialeggio
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2009 11:21 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Chickering's splayed actions...Why?

 

I've been wondering about the concept of the splayed grand action for a
while.

Why would a manufacturer do this to themselves?  I don't mean this as a
pejorative question. Rather, I have to assume manufacturers were chasing
after some design goal with this splay, since angled shanks impose 88
different geometries, further (and somewhat excessively) complicating an
action's already complicated collection of geometries.

Chickering did this for what(?)...75 years. It wasn't a one off trick. And
further, they had to pull it off in a production setting. So what might they
have been up to?

I can come up with a couple of guesses, but I wonder if any of you
manufacturer design guys have any insight on this question.

possibilities?:

1- the angled shank imposes a rotation on the hammer.  Is there a tonal
effect they were looking for, as the most aggressive angles were in the low
tenor and bass? Reduction of bass power so as not to overpower the treble?

2- Is it the vestigial remains of a previous way of thinking about action
design?

3- To my eye, the proportions of Chickering cases are often significantly
more graceful than the cases of other modern pianos.  Could the splay have
allowed a visual reduction in the required acreage needed to house an
action?

The recent short thread on Brown actions brought this to mind.

Jim I     
  

-- 
grandpianosolutions.com (under construction)
Shirley, MA  (978) 425-9026

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090808/09875937/attachment.htm>