Texas State Convention - 'Piano Scale Making'

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "thepianoarts" <thepianoarts@home.com>
To: <ptg-l@ptg.org>
Sent: September 22, 2001 1:40 PM
Subject: Texas State Convention - 'Put the Hammer Down'


>
>
>  The Dallas / Ft.Worth area is gearing up for the Texas State Association
>  seminar.  Designer and builder Del Fandrich's all day class "Piano Scale
>  Making - Understanding How Pianos Work", starts at 8:30, the morning of
>  Thursday October 11th. All other classes start on Friday, the 12th. and
run
>  through Sunday the 14th.
>
>  Need more information? Contact Leon Speir (e-mail) leonsp@swbell.net
>  214-381-0212
>  -------------------------------------------------------

To Whom It May Concern:

I'm really going to have to come up with a new title and description for
this class. The current title, Piano Scale Making, makes it sound like a
lecture on how to design a new piano and that's not really what it's about.
It's more about understanding how piano design and piano features affect
piano performance. It's about understanding how the various materials and
the various construction techniques yield certain predictable results in the
overall performance package.

This is a class that keeps evolving. The handout is now up to 16 pages and
I've begun adding bits specific to vertical pianos. (Basic piano design, of
course, doesn't really care if it's applied to grands or verticals. Piano
design theory works the same in either case.) I've been adding things for
the rebuilder; illustrating some of the ideas we've been putting into our
remanufacturing work. I try to get some discussion in there about voicing
problems that are design and materials related and about matching hammers to
specific scales. I also discuss some of the basics of string scale design
and of rescaling old designs. The class is open to questions and each
generation of the class (hopefully) reflects input from previous classes.

In other words, this is not a lecture on how to design a small grand piano.
It is a class on understanding small pianos in particular and pianos of all
sizes in general. It is a class on "Understanding How Pianos Work."

Regards,

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