---------- > From: Les Smith <lessmith@BUFFNET.NET> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: straight stringing > Date: Thursday, October 02, 1997 6:46 PM > > Dear Les, Kawai has individual tied strings on their older KG-8C' James Grebe pianoman@inlink.coms > > On Thu, 2 Oct 1997, thart wrote: > > > To the list, > > > > In a recent conversation with fellow technicians the statement was > > made that single strung plain wire unisonslacked the sound (tone and > > volume)of plain wire unisons where the strings are looped around the > > hitch pins. I would very much like to get other opinions on this. > > First of all, I believe you're misusing the term straight-stringing, which > refers to a piano in which the bass strings are parallel with the treble > strings, rather than crossing over them in a manner referred to as over- > strung. What I believe you're referring to is a piano in which each indi- > vidaul string is tied to it's own individual hitch pin, rather than one > hitch pin serving two strings, one down and one back. The notion that the > latter stringing method results in more volume and better tone is basical- > ly a crock.. The reason the former method is rarely encountered today has > nothing to do with tone-quality or volume, it has to do with production > costs ansd corporate expediency. Simply put, it takes more time (and hence > money) to string a piano with individually tied strings than it does one > where one hitchpin serves two strings and NEITHER ONE OF THEM ARE TIED. > The manufacturers adopted the latter system because of cost considerations > despite the fact that the evidence is pretty clear the a piano with indi- > vidually tied strings is more stable, tuning-wise. > > Where the misconception about tone and volume may have arisen from is > the fact that the only place one still finds pianos strung with indi- > vidually tied strings is in very expensive, high-quality European-made > instruments like Bosendorfer and Bluthner. The tone-quality of the two > IS different (ie. softer) than that of American-made pianos, but that > has nothing to do with the WAY the piano is strung. It has to do with > the fact that both pianos using a softer, German-made wire and differ- > ences in the design of the pianos themselves. > > Many fine-quality American-made pianos built in the last century utilized > individually tied strings. When re-strung with modern wire, the volume > of sound they produce is comparable to that of a modern piano utilizing > a one-pin-two-string stringing system and ALSO louder than the European > pianos utilizing individually tied strings. So the difference in volume > and tone quality between the pianos is related to the type of wire they > use and the design of the piano, NOT whether the strings are individually > tied, or not. > > Which is not to say, however, that I can't imagine American manufacturers > tryin to explain away the change from individually tied strings to the > one-hitchpin-two-string system by SAYING they did it for tonal reasons. > I can. It's just that it's not true. They did it for economic reasons, > and at the sacrifice on some tuning stability. > > Whew! Sorry that was so long! > > Les Smith > lessmih@buffnet.net >
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