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NOVEMBER 2, 1918
13
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OuTTECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WIL.LJAM BRAID WHITE
than a busted relative. T shall try it some
time in a damp place and see how it acts.
"Now, I would not give two cents a bushel
W. H. Haldeman, of Morrill, Kan., well known for the common spring clamp, although many
to all readers of this department, inquires as times I have from a dozen to thirty ivories to
follows:
put on. So I keep a ball of ordinary grocer's
"I am having trouble in a certain valve used in twine in my grip, and wind the ivory as tight
a Schiller player-piano. It is in a valve box as the string will stand without breaking with
located underneath the keybed between the the coils about one-eighth of an inch apart. 1
motor and exhaust.
The passageway from leave all metal clamps for the other fellow.
motor to exhaust through the valve box is con-
"It takes much skill to use the string in this
tinually open while playing. To stop the play- way, but when you once catch on you won't use
ing you press a button on the key slip and the anything else. Not long ago I put on a full
motor at once stops. The valve is placed sim- set of ivory tops and used nothing else.
ply to stop the motor. The valve under the
"As to the time to leave in clamp my rule
keybed is open all the time while playing, so
is that if I glue before noon I go back after
that the outside air continually rushes in
supper and replace the keys in the piano. If I
through the tube and keeps the pouch raised
glue during the afternoon I go back early the
up so that air travels constantly from motor to
next morning, leaving the clamps on overnight.
exhaust. Now you can readily see that the
"Some time later I may tell my way of fixing
outside air continually rushes in at the button
under keybed down through the tube and loose pins without taking them out or disturb-
through the bleed into the vacuum chamber of ing the strings. I have never known any one
else using my method. Respectfully yours, R.
the valve box while playing.
C. Bishop, Oklahoma City, Okla."
"Now, what 1 want to know is, does this aii
We shall all be glad to hear about the new
passing through the bleed hole into the vacuum way of tightening loose pins. As to the use of
chamber produce a hissing sound? There is a library paste Mr. Bishop is hardly serious, sure-
noticeable hissing sound about the valve box. ly! If he will try the damp treatment, as he
The tubes and connections are O. K. The box suggests, he will perhaps come to agree with me.
was checked at one or two places. I glued rub- Much the same must be said about the use of
ber cloth over these checks, but still there is a string for clamping ivory to wood after glu-
hissing sound there."
ing. I know that by practice and patience one
Answer. In a valve box of this sort it is evi- can, undoubtedly, tighten down a strip of ivory
dent that the continuous intake of atmospheric on a wooden block so as to squeeze out the
air must cause some hissing, while if the bleed glue evenly and form a neat joint; but this, it
hole be large this will be intensified. If the seems to me, is much harder to do with string
valve were reversed the hissing would cease, of than with a good clamp. I have used a very
course, as in that case there would be no such small hand-screw-clamp with excellent results.
constant flow of atmospheric air into regions
of lower pressure, which is the cause of the
ANOTHER RECORD
noise. The trouble is really, therefore, in the
My eminent and celebrated friend, Price
peculiar construction of the valve, and remedies
can only be partial. About all that can be Kiker, of Fort Worth, Tex., and representative
done, in fact, is to muffle the valve at the top of the Lone Star State in the Line's Academy
with a piece of porous cloth where the guide of Immortals, has been good enough once more
to send me a digest of his work on pianos,
pin emerges into the air.
players and organs during the last nine months.
These records are always very interesting and
GLUING IVORY—AGAIN
valuable for the reason that they give us, among
"Dear Mr. White—In reading the various let- other things, means for judging the progress of
ters about gluing on ivories that have appeared the player-piano and of the grand in various
in your department recently, it has occurred to sections of the country. For this special rea-
me that possibly the main reason why so many son I am always glad to receive such state-
have had bad luck is that they do not get a ments from tuners anywhere, and here once
clean joint, or else do not clamp properly or more invite readers who keep careful records
perhaps do not leave the key long enough in of their year's work to submit the figures on
the clamp. I have tried nearly all the ideas same to me. I can use them to the best possible
discussed and, strange to say, with good suc- advantage.
cess in all cases save one.
Mr. Kiker's figures are as follows: Tunings
"The one exception, however, I well remem- between January 1, 1918, and October 15, 1918:
ber. This was where some 'screwdriver-and- Straight uprights, 350; player-pianos, upright,
gimlet' tuner had evidently used either rubber 42; player organs, 1; grand pianos, 30; organs,
cement, or perhaps Karo syrup, which filled the 10; square pianos, 3; total, 431.
pores of the wood so deep that the ivory just
It will be observed that the straight uprights
came off. My experience in these things has are still about four-fifths of the total number.
been confined to the territory between Chicago This is not as it should be. The straight piano
and the southern boundary of Oklahoma, and I is still too overbearing an element. Then, again,
have had no ocean to contend with larger than the player-pianos form only about 10 per cent,
Lake Michigan.
of the total number. This, once more, is not
"Did anyone ever try library paste on ivories? as it should be. There should be more player-
Just for fun I stuck an iyory on a piece of white pianos. The number of grands is even less im-
pine some time ago and put it to one side. I pressive, amounting to only about 7 per cent,
have just tested it and find it sticking closer of the total. It is evident that Mr. Kiker's ter-
ritory, prosperous as it undoubtedly is, has much
FAUST SCHOOL OF TUNING to learn about pianos.
Tuners perhaps do not realize how valuable
HISSING VALVES
Piano, Player-Piano, Pipe and Reed Organ Toning and Re-
pairing, al*o Regulating, Voicing, Varnishing and Polishing
This formerly was the tuning department of the New
England Conservatory of Music, and Oliver C. Faust was
head of the department for 20 years previous to its dis-
continuance.
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 -0 GAINSBOROUGH ST.. BOSTON, MASS.
LESLEY'S
PATCHING VARNISH
dries in 10 seconds, flows without showing the lap.
With it damaged varnish can be repaired invisibly.
Price now 1 pt. 85c. 1 Qt. $1.60. Complete repair
outfit *3.00. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. LESLEY'S
CHEMK'AI COMPANY, Indianapolis, Ind.
comparative statistics are in this respect. It is
highly desirable to have knowledge direct from
the field as to the distribution of the various
types and grades of piano. I shall welcome in-
formation of this kind whenever and wherever
it is to be had.
Mr. Kiker did not this time give me the
usual list of names of the various pianos he
tuned. Such a list is likewise very useful, for
it enables one to know what proportion the
high-grade pianos bear to the moderate and
cheaper grades. I am especially interested in
keeping abreast of public taste in these matters,
and statistics of this kind are always welcomed
in these columns, even though we do not always
use the names themselves in public.
THE PIANO OF TO-MORROW
3. General Possibilities
It seems to lie within the range of possibility
to see arising in the future a piano which shall
possess a majority of the strong and a minority
of the weak points of its present representative.
It cannot be denied, I am sure, that the present
ordinary commercial piano does not satisfy the
artistic feeling of any person who possesses
even meager musical feeling. Its hard, unmal-
leable quality of tone, the short duration of its
sound, the monotony of its color, all these de-
fects offend the ear and degrade the taste. But
the piano of to-morrow, the piano which we in
this country hope to see conquer the world,
must be a piano free from the defects which in
the past have gone wholly or partly unnoticed.
I shall here just briefly sketch what may be
done in the way of improvement without ac-
tually revolutionizing the construction of
sound emission of the instrument. More elab-
orate considerations of future evolution may
come later.
In the first place, then, I think we may lay it
down as a rule completely to be insisted on, that
the piano of the future shall be designed with a
scientifically accurate scale. Tn the past these
words have been invested with a peculiarly i n -
accurate meaning.
Scientific accuracy can
only mean what these terms normally signify;
they cannot be referred to the achievements of.
any one experimenter, no matter how good these,
may be in comparison with others, unless .these.
achievements rest on scientific research; that is
upon experimental work carried out in a.ccord-
ance with recognized scientific truths. . One.;
may obtain an improved result by methods ;
wholly unscientific in their application, and here-
in lies a danger. The chances against ever re-
peating any given success on this basis are.
numerous; and the empirical experimenter is
therefore almost certain to waste most of his.
time and efforts in blindly hunting. This blind
sort of work must be abolished in the piano of
the future.
What then is a scientifically designed scale?
What conditions can it meet and overcome, what
results can it probably obtain, how far can it
be made practical? These points I shall next
examine.
(To be continued?)- »
Communications for this department should
be addressed to William Braid White, care The
Music Trade Review, 373 Fourth avenue, New
York City.
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