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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Sounding Board Innovations.
SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS EXPERIMENTS
IN THIS FIELD AS OLD AS THE PIANO IT-
SELF'—AN INTERESTING EXCERPT FROM
" THE PIANO."
From time to time, through the Patent
Office and otherwise, we learn of the efforts
which manufacturers are making toward im-
proving the sounding board of the piano—en-
deavoring to endow it with greater tonal
sonority and quality. J. C. H. Schnell, of
Hamburg, has recently invented and pat-
ented a double sounding board composed of
double layers of spruce fir, connected by ribs
which run the whole length of the piano,
dividing the double soundboard into narrow
chambers or canals, acting as resonators, in
which the air takes up the vibrations of the
strings, and communicates with the outer air
through sound holes made in the upper sound-
board. It is claimed in this connection that
notwithstanding the enormous tension to
which cases of pianos are subjected by the
ever-increasing length and strength of the
strings, and for which iron frames are con-
sidered a remedy, the resonance of the in-
strument is not increased as manufacturers
know. The sounding board just referred to,
it is claimed, fills the bill.
Another invention is the ribless sounding
board, for which Prof. Johannes Moser, of
Berlin, stands as sponsor. He claims that
the ordinary thin-ribbed sounding board is
not sufficiently free from vibrations to pre-
vent the different tones running into each
other, especially in forte passages. He con-
tends, also, that the quality of sound is un-
even, varying at those points of the thin
board where the strengthening ribs are
placed. The problem, therefore, was how
to obtain a sounding board that should vibrate
as little as possible and should not require
the ribs as in the old instrument. The new
sounding board consists of two layers of
ordinary pine wood glued and clamped firmly
together. It is an inch thick in the thickest
part, and the two layers of pine are so placed
that the grain of the wood crosses at right
angles, so as to transmit the vibrations of the
over strung strings of most pianos. The
contrivance is not a flat board, but tapers
from the inch thickness in the center to the
extreme edges, which are fixed in the case of
the instrument in the ordinary manner; in
short, the sounding board is convex, and can
be likened to a gigantic magnifying glass.
How far this shape has to do with the results
obtained it is difficult to say, unless it be that
the thinness of the edges, combined with there
being no ribs, gives a flexibility which enables
a much greater length of singing tone to be
obtained, and that the thickness of the center
affords a rigidity which is favorable to a purer
tone than can be obtained with the ordinary
sounding board. These qualities of flexibil-
ity and rigidity are, at any rate, the first
points that strike one in the new invention.
The thickness of the sounding board, it is
claimed, prevents false overtones and also
any sounds which may be caused by the blow
of the hammer; hence a much clearer effect
when heavy double-forte chords are played,
without that tangled mass of sound which
has always been a drawback to the instru-
ment. Also a most curious legato effect is
possible, without the use of the pedal, and
yet the staccato is as sharp as on an ordi-
nary instrument.
Another recent invention by a European
authority is a sounding board on the violin
principle. Indeed experiments in this field
of piano-making seem to be almost as old as
the piano itself. The violin, which is the most
sensitive organ of resonance known in the
domain of stringed instruments, led many ex-
perimental manufacturers to adapt some of
its constructive features to the piano from
time to time, but an utter misconception of
acoustic laws seems to have pervaded these
attempts. Failure to accomplish an improve-
ment of the sounding board by those means
has been the outcome.
In "The Piano" (Edward Lyman Bill,
Publisher), Daniel Spillane, in the chapter
devoted to "The Sounding Board and Its
Acoustics " speaks as follows of the efforts
made to improve the sounding board. Space
will only permit of an excerpt from this in-
teresting chapter. He says:
" I have in mind a number of patents and
experiments brought out in Europe and in
this country for sounding-board improve-
ments—so called—based upon an appropria-
tion of the structural features of the violin
body. Wheatstone, the celebrated scientist
and the inventor of the English concertina,
attempted to 'augment the tone of the piano-
forte ' by an eccentric sounding board after
the plan referred.to. He failed to accomplish
anything, however, with all his knowledge of
acoustics,for he labored under a misconception
regarding the relation of the violin body to
the piano sounding board. Erard the second
and the inventive Pape of Paris, both—singu-
lar as it may appear—labored under a similar
delusion, for they made various attempts to
make pianos with sounding boards construct-
ed on the plan of the violin. Gunther and
Wheatley Kirk, of London, also experimented
in this direction.
The former took out a
patent for two sounding boards in 1828, and
Kirk was granted one in 1836 for another
adaptation of a similar idea. Walker, Fissiore,
Thomas Loud, Jr., Hulskamp, and Driggs,
all American piano makers, experimented in
the same direction. Hulskamp originated a
'compressed sounding board,' taking the
violin belly as a model, while Driggs, the best-
known and most recent, of the above group,
seems to have set up the violin as the gauge
of his 'improvements' also. Even the late
Frederick Mathushek took out an American
and British patent in 1859 for a piano which
was to contain a sounding board designed
to be somewhat similar to the violin. The
most simple proof of the non-efficacy of the
ideas which all the foregoing inventors worked
upon and took pains to patent, is furnished
in their failure. Yet there are practical and
experienced piano makers experimenting with
the idea to-day. The principle of an arched
sounding board is a most fallacious concep-
tion of acoustic law in relation to the im-
provement of the piano. In the first place,
the violin belly is arched through necessity
largely, for the flat belly could not bear the
immense tensile strain imposed upon it.
29
"Again, and more important still, the violin,
though an instrument of the string family, be-
longs to the 'bowed' species. Discrimina-
tion is essential."
Fischer Hen Traveling.
Henry B. and Adolph H. Fischer of J. & C.
Fischer are both away on business, the latter
on a short Eastern trip. In pursuance of the
progressive policy of the firm, its principal
members will spend a considerable part of
the time out-of-town during the business
season.
There is no better sign of a firm's vitality
than the activity of its members. An enter-
prising policy in these days is the only one
that wins. The old-time policy of sitting
down and waiting for patronage is a doomed
one, and means nothing less than financial
decay and commercial decrepitude.
Board of Trade Banquet.
Richard M. Walters is chairman of the
committee of arrangements for the inaugu-
ral banquet of the Merchants and Manufac-
turers' Board of Trade of New York, which
will be given on Tuesday evening, Feb. 22,
at the Waldorf-Astoria (Astor Gallery) at
7 o'clock P. M. Tickets are six dollars each
and can be had from Mr. Walters at 241
Fifth avenue. Many members of the local
music trade are connected with this Asso-
ciation. With popular " D i c k " Walters in
charge, the dinner cannot fail to be a big
success.
Everett Grand Demand.
A. M. Wright, of the Everett Co., was in
Boston this week, on a visit to the Everett
factory. In answer to a question from The
Review during a call on Wednesday, Mr.
Wright said that there is great activity at the
factory, particularly in the Grand department.
Many examples of the new Everett concerts
and Parlor Grands are now in process of
completion.
Ludwig Co. Moving Ahead.
This week's news at the Ludwig factory is
to the effect that the whole force is working
overtime, with more than one hundred orders
to complete before the supply gets even with
the demand. Among the Ludwig visitors
recently was E. J. Mclntire, of Piper &
Mclntire, Manchester, N. H. He left an
order for a big shipment "to be delivered at
the earliest possible moment."
The Ludwig business is moving rapidly
along in process of development. The force
of workmen is being continually increased,
extra space is being absorbed from time to
time for workmen's benches and for stock,
and all indications point to a record-breaking
year's business for the firm. The latest
Ludwig styles have met with warm approval
from patrons, who are recommending them
strongly to all dealers who are looking out
for good sellers and good profits.
Otto Wissner's new factory building in
Brooklyn will, when completed, be one of the
finest plants to be found in the East.