Theory and Practice of Piano Construction. William Braid White
constructed of a sheet of spruce fir of varying thickness and arched inwards towards the strings, the crown of the arch being at its middle portion. It carries wooden bridges, over which pass the strings and upon which the vibrations of these strings are impressed and which serve to limit their speaking lengths. The side of the sound-board, remote from the strings, is strengthened by the addition of a series of strips of hard wood called “ribs,” which are tightly glued on to it.
All of this apparatus is fitted into a wooden frame technically called the “back.” It consists of two horizontal beams, situated at the top and bottom of the instrument and joined together with a number of vertical wooden posts of great strength. Into this structure the sound-board is secured in such a manner as to produce the arched shape above described, and in such a manner also as to leave nearly the whole of its surface free to vibrate. The top beam of the back is covered with the “wrest-plank,” a wooden block built up of crossed strips of hard maple into which are driven the tuning pins, or “wrest-pins” as they used to be called.
The whole structure is then covered by the “iron plate,” which is a massive affair cast in one piece and bolted all round to the sides of the sound-board and back, and to the wrest plank at the top and the bottom beam at the bottom. This plate contains the “hitch-pins,” over which are looped the waste ends of the strings, and also the iron bridge, which limits the upper extension of their speaking lengths. The strings are arranged upon this elaborate foundation, looped over the hitch-pins, passed over the sound-board—or “belly”—bridges, and thence through the bearing-bar, up to the tuning-pins.
To the sides of this structure are glued the external walls. A wooden bed for the keys is provided, and the action is secured partly to the iron plate and partly to the key-bed. The pedals are placed upon the bottom board, which is secured between the external walls or sides, and the pedals are connected with the proper parts of the action. When this has been done the construction of the instrument is essentially completed.
The various kinds of upright pianoforte do not vary greatly in size. In the United States the popular sizes vary between the extremes of four feet ten inches and four feet in height, with sufficient width to accommodate the eighty-eight notes that make up the modern compass of seven octaves and a minor third. The multitude of different scale arrangements need not be discussed here at all, nor is it necessary to enter into any investigation of the various individual arrangements and devices that different manufacturers fit to their instruments. All these things will be treated in their proper order.
The grand pianoforte has always been the favorite of the composer and the interpretative artist. In this type alone has it been possible to combine the highest qualities of tonal beauty and mechanical ingenuity. To-day the concert grands of our most eminent makers stand unsurpassed, both as mechanical structures and as musical instruments.
The most obvious dissimilarity between the grand and the upright is, of course, seen in the difference of their planes. The grand might properly be called the horizontal pianoforte. Its strings are stretched parallel to the plane of the floor and the hammers strike upwards at them from below. The second conspicuous difference is in the function of the exterior casing. We have already noted that this part of the upright is chiefly required to complete the exterior ornamentation of the structure, and secondarily to support the keys and action. The case of the grand, on the other hand, is an essential part of the resonant body of the instrument. It consists of a rim, bent to suitable shape and built up of continuous veneers, running all round in one piece and glued together at crossed grain until the desired number of layers and the proper thickness are thus obtained. The whole of what corresponds to the upright back framing, as well as the sound-board and iron plate, are rigidly built into this continuous bent rim, and thus the whole structure forms one complete resonant entity, entirely unified and interdependent. The rim is made deep enough to permit of the insertion of action and keys in the front portion, and a gap in the framing is left for the hammers to strike upwards at the strings. The wrest-plank is placed on one side of the gap and the sound-board occupies the remainder of the space on the other side. The iron plate covers the entire structure, wrest-plank included, and sustains the same relations to the instrument as in the upright. Its shape, as also that of the sound-board, is adapted to the peculiar outline of the grand, which is so aptly implied in the word “fluegel” (wing), used in Germany to designate the entire grand type.
Until a comparatively recent period the large concert size grand was practically the only type of these instruments. The revolutionary improvements initiated by the Steinways in the middle of the nineteenth century paved the way, however, for the general introduction of smaller styles. It was found possible to retain the characteristically full and rich tone of the large grand—at least to a great extent—while its inherent advantages in the matter of touch and action all combined to assure the popularity of the smaller instrument among the more critical and discriminating of the public. Doubtless, also, the remarkable change in the housing of urban populations that has been so conspicuous during the last twenty years had much to do with the general desire for an instrument that should be less common than the ordinary upright and that should at the same time be less cumbersome than the full-sized grand. A powerful incentive was therefore given to manufacturers to strive towards the perfecting of the small types, and we cannot deny that they have succeeded in a remarkable manner.
It is true that there exists today a tendency to cut the size of these small grands down to really impossible proportions. There is a limit to the cutting down process; and it is apparent to the observer that more than one maker is endeavoring to obtain a true grand tone from a sound-board area and from string lengths that are such as entirely to prohibit the attainment of this desirable goal. Of course, it may be retorted that the term “true grand tone” is subject to variations of definition. It may even be plausibly said that tone of any kind is too intangible a thing to be limited by any definitions. Nevertheless, it would seem that there is a very decided limit, and that when we arrive at the point where it is no longer possible to obtain the fullness, richness and volume of tone that we are accustomed to accept as the distinguishing characteristic of the grand pianoforte, then, indeed, we no longer have a true grand. Other instruments may have the outline and the action of a grand, but if they have not the proper sound-board area and string length, then they are merely (if we may perpetrate a bull) “horizontal uprights.”
The very general description that we have thus given of the two prevailing types of pianoforte has not been intended to serve as more than what it so obviously is—a rapid bird’s-eye view of the instruments as they appear to the casual observer. The reader may thus prepare himself for the more definite and critical investigation that is now about to be begun.
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