1 string, 2 strings, 3 strings or more

[John Delacour]

At 09:30 19/09/01 +1000, Overs Pianos wrote:


>>In a concert grand I would expect the tension on the singles either to be 
>>roughly constant or even to fall somewhat towards the transition to bichords.
>
>Perhaps you have measured such scales, but tension normally will slightly 
>rise towards the single/bichord transition.

I measure every scale I'm asked to make strings for, so I have a good few 
scale sheets recording the original scales.  As you say, tension will often 
rise towards the transition but in concert grands only it is just as common 
for the tension to be level through the singles or even to rise towards the 
bass as the core gauges increase, giving a steady strain percentage.  On 
pianos of this length it is hardly critical since the character of the tone 
will be determined so much more by structural factors.  On shorter pianos, 
of course the tension must fall off, the more so if you are committed to 
using no double-covered strings.


>Depends a bit on whether the counterbearing angle is too severe or not. 
>With a lower counterbearing angle, higher tensions can be used safely.

Sure, the question is whether such elevated tensions are desirable at all 
after a certain point.  My contention is that too high tension in the 
covered scale can have a deadening effect and that a lighter bass scale 
with thinner cores can often improve the tone without reducing any of its 
volume.  Of course I am speaking only from experience of given pianos 
without any modifications to soundboards etc. and the rule applies only to 
pianos of a decent size.  In the case of short grands designed with stiff 
boards and high tension scales the rule does not apply -- to string a 5' 
Steck as though it were a 5' Blüthner will result in an unimaginably weak 
sound.

>But even the so called best are not necessarily well scaled. Some of the 
>so called best pianos have some of the worst scales in the business.

Sure.  Marketing can work wonders.  I was thinking of Lipp, Ibach, 
Brinsmead et al. and not only the big names.

>Sure Julius was a wonderful piano maker, but that was back then. If Julius 
>was alive today he would probably join the charge into new scaling, and 
>rethinking out all sorts of parameters. Plate weight/hysteresis and 
>rigidity/effective sound board area/sound board stiffness/sound board 
>perimeter flexibility/scale design/strike ratio/hammers - its all part of 
>tone building.

He'd do well to look at some good glue as well :-)

>This is why modifying scales alone won't fix tonal problems for all 
>instruments.

No, but at least the bass string maker is usually able to make significant 
improvements to a given piano without structural alterations and bring out 
the best that is possible in that quarter of the instrument.

JD