learning tuning - Another Rant!

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Neuman" <cneuman@phy.duke.edu>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: January 02, 2001 7:39 AM
Subject: learning tuning - (was: what pianos are good?)


> An advantage of learning on a poor piano is that I am inspired to learn
> needed repairs. Also, I can appreciate good pianos more. For example, my
> piano has wound strings above F33. Larry Fine says that's a problem. Now I
> see why.
>
> Charles Neuman
>
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Uh-oh. I feel another rant coming on...

You are also being given the opportunity to learn something about stringing
scales. And why it is good not to necessarily accept generalizations about
the piano at face value. Even -- and with due respect to Larry's fine
work -- when it is written in a book.

What you are experiencing is the frustration of dealing with a 'badly
scaled' small piano. And one which probably has several other design
problems in and around the bass/tenor break. Later you will also be
frustrate by having to deal with badly scaled larger pianos. Same problems,
they just occur at a different point in the scale.

What Larry is referring to are the tuning problems resulting from a poorly
designed transition between plain steel wires and wrapped wires when it
occurs within the so-called 'temperment octave.' With a poorly designed
string scale the harmonic structure of the strings can, indeed, make proper
tuning of any kind of temperment virtually impossible.

However, it does not need to be so. This transition can be made smoothly
regardless of the size of the piano. I recently gave a seminar on the
problems encountered in small piano design in which an older U.S. built 140
cm (approx. 4' 7") piano was used in demonstration. This piano had been
remanufactured by Steve Ganz (Portland, Oregon) using certain structural and
plate modifications along with a new (also modified) soundboard and rib set,
all of which I designed specifically for the piano. There was a new
stringing scale that I designed for the piano. (A new bass bridge was
designed to fit the new stringing scale and the bass bridge cantilever was
removed.)

The bass/tenor break in this piano fell between F-33 and F#-34. F-33 was on
the bass bridge and was a bi-chord wrapped unison. F#-34 was on the bottom
of the tenor bridge and was a tri-chord plain unison. The tonal transition
between the two was quite smooth and the temperment was easily tunable.
Simply by selecting the proper combination of core and wrap sizes it was
possible to smooth out the inharmonicity curve enough to maintain a uniform
spread of both fundamental and harmonics. All of the normal test intervals
fell nicely into place. And this with a string dispersion that was still
somewhat less than ideal.

My point in using this very small grand piano in this particular seminar was
simply to demonstrate that, with careful and appropriate design, even small
pianos -- be they grands or verticals -- can be made to sound quite nicely
balanced and very musical. And, I think it is fair to say that the general
consensus among those attending the seminar was that the overall performance
of the demonstration piano was, indeed, quite good and it did qualify as a
true musical instrument. So, while acknowledging the inherent limitations of
their size, many of the really bothersome tuning and musical problems we
commonly encounter in these very small pianos are really the result of poor
fundamental design. Surely the day is past when we can conveniently blame
everything on their size and on where the bass/tenor transition takes place.

Regards,

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