1 string, 2 strings, 3 strings or more

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Delacour" <JD@Pianomaker.co.uk>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 20, 2001 3:09 AM
Subject: Re: 1 string, 2 strings, 3 strings or more


>
> As to holding up pre-1914 to reverence, there was a very rich soil in
those
> days for your 'thinkers' to flourish in and a vast resource of skilled men
> working in an age dominated by mechanical contrivances.  I'm sure
> worthwhile design improvements are possible in 2001 as well as some
radical
> changes in basic components, but maybe there were good ideas around in
> 1960, in 1970 - I've not seen any evidence of it.
>

Obviously, the years from roughly 1860 to the early 1920s were years of
experimentation and development for the modern piano. But these development
was almost entirely in the mechanical or structural design of the
instrument, not in scaling. There was certainly a variety of string layouts
and configurations tried and discarded, but this does not good scaling make.

Even though there was much talk about logarithmic scaling through the
tenor/treble section of the piano--Wolfenden wrote of it in 1916--it was
applied only in part. No one, to my knowledge, got the low tenor even close
to right. And--at least as far as I know--the idea of log scaling never got
to the bass section until I did it in the 1980s.

The excuse I most often hear is that the mathematics necessary to develop
the bass scaling was not developed until the 1950s. This might excuse the
builders working earlier than 1950 but not those following. With these math
tools it didn't take all that much time even with just the slide rule
(relative to designing the rest of the piano) to develop a reasonable bass
scale. With the availability of inexpensive computers and off-the-shelf
spreadsheets--even the availability of ready-made programs written
especially for string scale calculations--it is truly incredible that we
still see the obsolete scaling principles of 1900--in some cases nearly
exact copies of those used in 1900--being applied to pianos that are
supposedly being 'designed' today.

The concept of creative R&D seems nearly dead in our industry today. And,
with its death has gone the evolution the product vital to the industry's
survival.

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