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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Trade Technicians Discuss Characteristics of Wood
The Various Woods Used in Piano Construction Described by Experts—The Relative
Value of Open-Air and Kiln Dried Material — Why Some Woods Are Better than Others
CHICAGO, ILL. ; February 12.—The informal meet-
ing of the Piano Technicians, held in the labora-
tory of the American Steel & Wire Co. here
last Wednesday evening, February 7, was of
particular interest owing to the fact that the
subject discussed was wood and there were con-
sidered the merits of the various methods of
drying and also ways and means for overcom-
ing the threatened shortage of lumber of all
kinds. Thure A. Johanson, general superinten-
dent of the factories of the Cable Company, pre-
sided at the meeting in the absence of Frank
E. Morton, who was in Lawrence, Kan., to
address the students of the University of Kan-
sas.
In opening the meeting Mr. Johanson an-
nounced that the subject for the evening was
"Wood," and said:
The Uses of Various Woods
"The subject for discussion this evening is
the various kinds of wood best adapted for
the manufacture of pianos. Certain kinds of
woods are selected for building certain parts
of pianos, because these woods possess just
those qualities or characteristics which best en-
able them to perform the functions required.
Some of these properties or characteristics are
tensile strength, rigidity, hardness, ability to
expand and contract, resonance and beauty.
"The construction of backs requires strength
and rigidity. For this purpose spruce, maple,
rock elm, beech, etc., are used.
"Wrest planks require tensile strength, rigid-
ity and hardness and the American rock maple
laminated is without doubt the best wood for
this purpose. Bridges of laminated ash and
maple have proved to be very good.
"For sounding boards experience and experi-
ments have proven that spruce is the best ma-
terial. Some fine sounding board lumber comes
(or did come before the war) from Bohemia
and Roumania, but it has been found that spruce
from our own Adirondack Mountains and the
Pacific Coast is of such excellent quality that
it may still be considered a debatable ques-
tion as to just where the best is grown.
"For actions, strength, rigidity and hardness
are desired and rock maple meets these require-
ments better than any other wood.
"Keys require a wood that is unusually strong
in comparison with its weight, besides having
the least tendency to warp. Sugar and cork
pine seem to be the materials best adapted to
this purpose, and perhaps basswood is the near-
est substitute to these.
"Stiffness and strength are vital factors in
the making of key beds and built up stock is
used to good advantage for making these parts.
"Most of the lumber used in the construc-
tion of a piano enters its case making. The
grand case rim requires strength and rigidity
and laminated maple and ash are the most fa-
vored woods.
Corewood and Its Requirements
"In direct contrast with the requirements of
strength in grand case rims is the demand made
upon the corewood or veneer backing used in
upright cases. This corewood must be lumber
which, when thoroughly dried, will contract or
expand the least and will best hold its shape
under the varying climatic conditions as re-
gards heat and moisture. Yellow poplar, chest-
nut, ash and white pine meet the requirements
for corewood better than other varieties.
"Among the solid ornamental woods none
excel mahogany, walnut and oak.
"Various fancy woods are used more or less
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for face veneers. The most popular of these
for turning out cases that are truly beautiful
are mahogany, rosewood, Circassian walnut, oak,
and last but not least, our own beautiful Amer-
ican walnut, which to my mind surpasses them
all. It is the king of woods. And let me say
in passing that this American product of ours
of which we should be particularly proud, has
not obtained the degree of appreciation that it
merits. What more beautifully figured wood
can be found? Nature must have left walnut
for the last in the production of its woods, for
in it she has portrayed beauty surpassing that
in all others.
"Needless to say in such a company, all the
woods mentioned must be selected and treated
with the utmost care in order to produce the
best results."
Mr. Johanson then introduced L. L. Barth,
vice-president of the Edward Hines Lumber
Co.; H. S. Dewey, lumber expert; P. W. Hus-
pine (pinus strobus) so successfully utilized in
the manufacture of piano keys, and the spruce
(picea excelsa), so useful for sounding boards.
The supply of both of these woods, while not
inexhaustible, promises to fulfill quite every
need for your purposes for many years to come,
therefore we need not concern ourselves about
substitutes for them for two generations at
least.
"When we examine the stem of a broad
leaved tree, such as an oak, we find with the
same exogenous arrangement of pith, bark,
heart-wood, sap-wood and annual rings consid-
erable greater complexity in the variety and
grouping of the elements of which the tissues
are built up. The pith in some hardwoods is
extremely variable, and in some woods like
the elder it soon dies and disintegrates, leaving
the stem hollow, whilst in young stems of elm
the inner portion of it has thin walls and loses
its protoplasm, while the outer part becomes
Group of Trade Technicians Who Have Been in Attendance at Chicago Conferences
From left to right: 11. 11. Ayers, American Steel & Wire Co.; K. J. Fishbaugh, Hobart M. Cable Co.; George Lufkin,
\V. \V. Kitnball Co.; Wm. D. Meister, Adam Schaaf; Carl Williams, Williams Piano & Organ Co.; C. IT. Jackson,
Kilmuncl Cram Piano Co.; C. A. [irown, American Steel & Wire Co.; T. A. Johanson, Cable Company; C. C.
Chiekering, Chickering P.ros.; F. E. Morton, American Steel & Wire Co.; Miss F. L. Wexman, secretary; E. B.
Hartlett, W. W. Kimball Co.; K. II. Waud, Lyon & Healy; Chas. Stanley, P. A. Starck Piano Co.; H. H. Arnold, Bush
& Certs Piano Co.; T. Klepac, American Steel & Wire Co.; John II. Gerts, Bush & Gerts Piano Co.; E. E. Beach,
Hamilton Piano Co.;* R. W. E. Sperry, Packard Piano Co.
ton, also of the Edward Hines Lumber Co.,
and Dr. E. W. D. Laufer, horticultural com-
missioner of the American Steel & Wire Co.
Mr. Dewey was the speaker of the evening. He
has spent years in the study of the woods of
the world, and his address was in the nature
of a scientific treatise upon the natural divi-
sions of plant life, the elemental features of
the plants that in the form of trees prove use-
ful to the industries and arts and why certain
plant formations are particularly suitable for
specific used in piano construction and for other
uses. In the course of his remarks Mr. Dewey
said:
"There is a difference between the wood of
conifers or needle-leaved trees and that of the
broad leaved trees, readily discernible in the
difference in the texture, the wood of the coni-
fers being softer and lighter in weight than the
wood of the broad leaved trees.
Characteristics of the Conifers
"In the wood of the conifers the sapwood
or alburnum contains cells that are in a suffi-
ciently active state of vitality to store up starch,
at least in winter, though growth is confined
to the outermost layer of all, the cambium. The
heart-wood or duramen, the cells of which are
physiologically dead, serves only the mechanical
function of supporting the weight of the tree, re-
sisting the lateral strain of the wind.
"The annual rings composed of the lighter
colored spring-wood, and the darker colored
summer-wood, which is heavier and denser,
show us each year's growth and the relative
proportion of the denser and firmer summer-
wood becomes a valuable aid in distinguishing
heavy, strong pine wood from that which is
light and soft.
"Of the conifers the woods most valuable in
the manufacture of pianos and many other
musical instruments are the soft cork white
thick walled, but retains its cell contents. * * *
"I shall not dwell upon the distinctive fea-
tures of the various hardwoods, and the elements
of complexity and variety that distinguish them
from the conifers. The processes of lignifi-
cation proceed with much less rapidity, and with
vastly differing and widely varying foundations.
There is, as a rule, among^ the woods of the
broad leaved trees no such regularity of radi-
cal arrangement of elements as characterizes
the simple wood of conifers.
The Use of Hardwoods
"In the hardwoods most used in the manu-
facture of pianos and other musical instruments
those of even and uniform growth, of firm
structure and strong fiber have been deemed
to be most useful. Uniform structure, density,
even grain and elasticity are elements essential
to your needs. In the dense, even-fibered hard
maple you find the wood suited to your re-
quirements for actions. In the rapid depletion
of the somewhat limited areas of maple forests
I perceive a possible shortage of this valuable
wood in another generation, and the conse-
quent need for seeking a substitute wood. It
is possible, however, that you may even now
have such a substitute in mind.
"In 1910, 1911 and 1912 I had occasion to
investigate timber resources in tropical Mexico
and Central America, where I found a great
many unknown woods that impressed me very
favorably indeed as being suitable woods for
many purposes where wood from our own for-
est resources are now being utilized. Samples
which I happened to examine very carefully
showed characteristics very similar to our
American basswood, poplar, ash, and maple, and
while I had but limited opportuntiy to experi-
ment with these woods, such limited experi-
mentation as was made proved to me the like L
(Continued on page 12)