Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OuTTECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE.
BUSTED SOUND-BOARDS" AND THE YEAR 1916.
The following most interesting letter comes to
me from a valued friend who desires me to with-
hold his name, which would be recognized as be-
longing to one of the younger generation of
technical men in the piano trade, well-known as
the mechanical superintendent of a large Middle
Western industry. He is referring to certain very
suggestive remarks made by our friend, George L.
Maitland, some weeks ago in this department on
sound boards:
"My Dear Mr. White—I read with interest some
weeks ago Mr. Maitland's article on 'Busted
Sounding Boards.' I suppose most of us fellows
who still think that the sounding board deserves
some study and do not expend our gray matter en-
tirely on building cases have reflected somewhat
on split boards. I know I have, tiutil things gen-
erally became tinted with indigo.
" 'Piano makers certainly have many foolish
notions about sounding board construction,' says
Maitland. He didn't need to confine himself to
sounding boards. But let us be fair to the manu-
facturer. (I am one of them.) He does study his
work very closely, but it is nearly impossible to
get any exact data. Ask any man what happens
in a sound board and he will answer with nearly
all theories and notions—not facts.
"But I am writing this to tell you of a couple
of experiments which I made some years ago, and
which were never used. Realizing that cracks in
a sounding board did not necessarily hurt the
piano tone, I built a sound board with the 'cracks'
already in. The piano was watched and shown in
the factory and then sold where it could be
watched. What was the result? Nobody noticed
any difference in tone. The board has given no
trouble of any kind. But the piano has stayed in
tune and held its tone better than others of the
same scale.
"1 also made a double sounding board arranged
so that the expansion of one board was offset by
the expansion of the other, with the same results
as regards staying in tune. The tone was good
also, but the construction expensive.
"Now if you want to know why these things
were not adopted just get a freak construction
and show it to people without comment and listen
to what they say. Their criticisms are often more
freakish than the piano, but they fairly reflect the
position of the purchasing public.
"You say 'Educate the Public' But first make
up your mind that the improvement will net you
enough in cash or prestige to pay for the time,
energy and money spent in their education. That
is why sound boards are not to-day made with
provision for expansion and contraction. Yours
for better pianos.
"A
MANUFACTURER."
My friend is an earnest seeker after improve-
ment and above all desires to see the piano made
as nearly perfect as is possible. But what he says
about the attitude which the manufacturer must
take toward the purchasing public is, unhappily,
quite untrue. What with the ridiculous and scan-
dalous methods practiced by some retailers, espe-
cially as reflected in the habit of indiscriminate
knocking of everybody who happens to be in com-
petition, and the equally ridiculous though less
blameworthy ignorance of the public and their
extraordinary gullibility in all matters with which
they, are not entirely familiar, the unfortunate
PIANO KEYS BLEACHED
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JOC fBOLEI * SONS
Mtnreeritta, O.
manufacturer is placed in an unenviable position.
There are many things he would like to do, but
dare not attempt. I suppose it is fair to say that
professional jealousy quite as much as the preju-
dice of tuner was responsible for the abandon-
ment of the Mason & Hamlin screw stringer,
which, I maintain, was the greatest single improve-
ment in piano manufacture from the invention
of double repetition by Erard to its own time. It
is, unhappily, the. fact that the intrinsic merit of
an improvement in piano manufacture has little
or nothing to do with its reception with the public;
while the nature of this reception, as we all know,
determines the possibility of making the new in-
vention a practical success. There is no use in
making anything unless you can sell it. as my cor-
respondent aptly points out.
Still it is very interesting to learn that Mr.
Maitland's notion of building sound boards with
the cracks in has actually been tried, and still
more interesting to hear that the experiment is
successful. I thought from the first that the idea
was right, and am extremely glad to have had the
belief confirmed.
LOSS OF TONE.
"Dear Mr. White—1 am writing you again in
reference to a little trouble I am having in regard
to loss of tone. The chief characteristics are as
follows: The piano is of standard make and has
been in use a long time. The bass section has a
good full tone and the middle register is also
good, but from the break on up the tone is fierce.
It has no ringing quality at all. When a chord is
struck it is loud enough, but is absolutely dead.
The hammers are in fine condition. The action is
of the old wooden bracket type and admits of no
adjustment. I might also say that at the extreme
upper treble the tone is so fleeting and weak that
H is difficult to tune. Also that this condition has
been getting worse in the last six or eight months,
There has been no grease around the strings to my
knowledge. It has puzzled me to know why this
condition should exist at one end of the piano
and not at the other. Your opinion would be
valued as to the possible cause and remedy. Do
you think one could successfully heat hammer
shanks and tip heads down to lower striking point?
Would the result be worth the labor? Respect-
fully, Emulous Smith, Greenville, Mich."
All signs in this case point to the trouble being
due to loss of bearing at the treble end of the
scale. In other words, the upper end of the piano
sounds weak and toneless because the down bear-
ing on the bridge is flattened out, so that the
strings no longer exert the appropriate pressure
on the board. The cause is probably a flattening
out of the board, due to age and possibly to the
peculiar weather conditions under which the piano
has labored. In any case, on the strength of the
above letter, I should venture to diagnose the
complaint as a flattened sound board.
A proof of the existence of such a condition
may be had by taking a straight edge and laying
it across the board above and below the bridge.
If the board has sunk where the bridge line runs,
and if we lay a straight edge from the upper bear-
ing bridge to the edge of the plate where the hitch
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING
Piano, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Orjan Tuning and Re-
pairing, alto Regulating, Voicing, Varnishing andPoliihing
This formerly was the tuning department of the New Eng-
land Conservatory of Music, and Oliver C. Faust was head
of that department for 20 years previous to its discontinu-
ance.
Courses in mathematical piano scale construction and
drafting of same have been added.
Pupils have daily practise in Chickering & Sons' factory.
Year Book sent free upon request.
27-29 GAINSBOROUGH ST., BOSTON, MASS,
pins run, the surface of the sound board bridge
will be on a level with or lower than the line of
the straight edge, instead of being higher, as it
should be. The bridge should be nearly one-quarter
inch higher than the upper bearing bridge if the
sound board is well crowned; anyhow, it should
not be less than three-sixteenth inch higher.
If one provides a straight edge with two feet,
each exactly of the same height, placed at either
end of the straight edge and just high enough to
clear the sound board bridge, and if this then be
placed across the bridge line, with one foot held
firmly on the surface of the board, then, if the
board be rightly crowned, the other foot should
clear the surface of the board. Such a straight
edge should be just long enough to run about
eighteen inches on either side of the board.
As for remedies for this, trouble: The piano
might be unstrung, relieved ,of die plate and then
be given a new sound board, or else, if on ex-
amination the board were found loose at one end,
it might be wedged up into place again and re-
glued. Restore the security and crown of the
board and you have solved the trouble, so far as I
can see.
Of course, there may be elements in the problem
of which I have not been made aware, and in this
case any judgment would, of course, be modified.
THE YEAR 1916.
As it happens, I am writing these words on the
afternoon of December 25, a date which registers
the eleventh Christmas season at which I have been
privileged to wish my readers the compliments com-
mon to that time. It is a pleasure to know that I
can also for the eleventh time wish them a Happy
New Year.
But I should like to do more than this: I should
like to say that unless all signs fail 1916 is to be a
year more fruitful in general prosperity than any
we have enjoyed since 1907. So long as the tragedy
of the world war continues, of course, the United
States may expect to derive a prosperity, artificial
and not altogether healthy, from the misfortunes
of civilization. Rut this war may stop at any time,
and must stop sooner or later. Those, therefore,
who are wise will not hold the foolish opinion that
one boom makes prosperity.
Still, there is a deeper truth to be discerned. The
depression which blackened the winter of 1914-ir>
had no foundation save in the heated imagination
of the people. Fear, just plain ordinary fright,
had us in its grip. We were scared. We did not
know why we should be. we had absolutely no rea-
son to be frightened. We lacked confidence. That
was all. And we did not know why.
Now let us not run into the opposite extreme of
blind enthusiasm, seeing one swallow and urging
that summer is surely here. It may; again it may
not be.
One thing, though, is sure. The boom in the
piano business this winter has been very great.
Tuners and Repairmen
Can make good money inatalling Jeafcia-
, o n ' i Player-Action into used Piano*. Write
for catalogue.
JENKINSON PLAYER CO.
912 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohie.
Polk's Piano Trade School
Piano,
14th YEAR
Player-Piano and Organ Tuning,
Repairing and Regulating
Most thoroughly equipped Piano Trade School in
U. S. Private initruction. Factory experience if de-
sired. Students assisted. Diplomas awarded. School
entire year. Endorsed by leading piano manufacturers
and dealers. Free catalogue.
C C POLK
Bos 29ft Val^araUe, la*.