Erard grand piano

[Tom Servinsky]

Stephen,
Question: What do think is the reasoning behind the Erard design, placing
the checking mechanism in front of the hammer? My guess was either a touch
weight issue, eliminating the extra weight on the hammer and backcheck, then
transferring the checking onto the shank, or possibly could it be a tonal
issue ( less mass on the hammer).
Erards do have a very unique musical quality and I'm intrigue to understand
what they did which was so different.
Interested in your thought.Tom Servinsky,RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Birkett" <birketts@wright.aps.uoguelph.ca>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 11:06 PM
Subject: Re:Erard grand piano


> Clark wrote:
> > Tom, Thanks for the insight.  I didn't pull the action, because when I
> > saw the dampers coming from the bottom, I didn't know what I was getting
> > into, and I didn't want to break anything.  Pictures will be
forthcoming,
> > but it will take awhile.  Clark Sprague
>
> The underdampers are attached to a rack attached to the bellyrail. There
> is no direct connection to the action itself. They operate by virture of
> an L-shaped wire that sticks out the back of the action and interacts
> with the pad at the bottom of the damper, when the key goes down, and
> whippen goes up. No problem to pull the action in the normal way.
>
> By the way, the checks in front of the hammerheads were used on the very
> first of Erard's action designs, the patent of 1821. On that design the
> checks are attached to wooden sticks that pass through the hammer shank.
> Hammer shank consists of two pieces of wood like thin popsicle sticks,
> with blocks separating them...forming a ladder, hence the name echelle.
> Some time in the 1830s Erard introduced (but didn't patent the change
> because it was a variant on the original patent) a new, more robust
> design, in which the checks are wires that pass through the shank, which
> is a single stick that splays out at the hammer head end to provide the
> opening for the check wire to pass through. I've seen an 1832 Erard with
> the original action design and I recently acquired an 1836 Paris Erard
> with the new design action that looks original (not retro-fitted by Erard
> as he sometimes did for customers with the old actions), so it's likely
> this new action design was introduced sometime between 1832-36. It was
> used until the end of the century, inclduing by builders such as Bluthner
> when they used the Erard action. So Clark, your action is likely the same
> one.
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
> Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
> 464 Winchester Drive
> Waterloo, Ontario
> Canada N2T 1K5
> tel: 519-885-2228
> mailto: birketts@wright.aps.uoguelph.ca
>
>