Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
3, 1922
MUSIC
TRADE
11
REVIEW
O u r TECHNICAL DEPARJMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BKA1D WHITE
A CASE OF DEAD TREBLE
Trouble Which May Be Traced to a Sagging
Sound Board or a Defective Hammer-line
Brother Webb complains will have been satisfac-
torily accounted for.
Now, a case like this is by no means easy to
handle. It is scarcely possible to recrown a
soundboard, save by removing strings and plate
and then regluing after the linings have been re-
planed. Such a job is beyond the capacity of
most tuners and would test the capacity of most
repair shops. One might do something by wedg-
ing up the bridge with posts backed into the
main beams of the back framing, after the string
tension had been let down.
The improvement noted during the time which
elapses between tuning and use at a concert is
probably to be accounted for by the simple fact
that when the piano is in tune the tension on the
bridges is properly distributed and the sagging is
to some extent compensated.
On the other hand, of course, it does not fol-
low from anything that can be seen on the piano
that the hammer-line is or is not all right. Only
measurement can prove the one proposition or
the other. If the hammer-line, through any ac-
cident or series of accidents, is thrown out of its
calculated direction there is bound to be a marked
change in the quality of the tone emitted. But
the particular quality which is known as "dead-
ness" is nearly always the result of loss of bear-
ing through the sound board sagging. And, at
the same time, it should be said that the cause
of sagging is to be found in extreme hygro-
scopic conditions of the atmosphere in Summer
and Winter seasons.
Lastly, let me suggest that Brother Webb,
when next he tunes this instrument, assure him-
self that it is up to pitch. If the instrument is
tuned to pitch and the hammers are filed and
ironed, some definite improvement would be
almost sure to become noticeable.
"Dear Mr. White: I have a puzzling case in a
piano which is situated in a brick church. The
building is heated during the Winter and so the
temperature never falls to the freezing point.
Conditions, in fact, are just as good as they could
be expected to be in a church. The piano is of
a really good make, but it has a- 'dead' treble.
That is to say, the two highest octaves are af-
fected in this manner.
"The action is set by supports cast into the
plate and so the trouble can hardly be due to
defect of the striking line. The action is by
Wessell, Nickel & Gross and is in first-class con-
dition.
"My only suggested solution leads me to the
tridge bearings, and yet, so far as I can tell, the
string pressure on the bridge is about right. Of
course, it is hard to make any test, with the
strings on and drawn up to pitch.
"One of our music teachers uses this piano oc-
casionally for recitals and has it tuned some ten
days beforehand, using it every day from then
till the concert. During this time the tone always
seems greatly to improve.
"Is all this trouble, then, due to want of use
of the instrument in the upper register, or is there
a remedy that I have not yet found? The middle
and bass sections of the piano are very good in
tone.
"I have had the care of this instrument for
about seven years, and when I first saw it I found
it just as it is now in respect of the treble oc-
taves. The hammer-line seems to be perfect and
tlic hammer faces in good condition. Sincerely,
Earl H. Webb, Mt. Carmel, 111."
MAPLE AND HAMMER SHANKS
Answer—It sounds very much as if the sound
board had sagged under the highest two octaves A Discussion Regarding the Qualities of Brown
in the treble and that in consequence the bridges
and White Maple
no longer afford a good down-bearing to the
strings. This hypothesis can be tested, of course,
"Dear Mr. White: I am a beginner, interested
by laying the piano on its back and running a in piano tuning and repairing as a side line. A
straight edge from bearing-bar to hitch-pin over question that has disturbed me a great deal of late
the bridge. If anything like this has happened— is hammer shanks. What is the best type of
which is likely—then, of course, the tone-quality maple for hammer shanks?
will have deteriorated and the deadness of which
HARLEM PIANO & ORGAN KEY € 0 .
KEY REPAIRING AND NEW WORK
Ivorine, Celluloid and Composition Keys
A Specialty
Host Work
Lowest Prices
Send all work parcels post. Give us trial order.
121-123 East 126th Street
N e w York. N. Y.
T
URN YOUR STRAIGHT
PIANOS INTO PLAYERS
Individual pneumatic stacks, roll
boxes, bellows, pedal actions,
expression boxes.
Manufacturers, dealers, tuners
and repair men supplied with
player actions for straight pianos.
JENKINSON PLAYER ACTION CO., Inc.
912-914 Elm St.
Cincinnati, O.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Piaaa T n f e f . Pipe mi RccJ Ortaa
tad Player Piaw. tear B*>k Free.
27-29 Gaintboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
VALUABLE BOOK
ON REFINISHING
FREE
Just send your name and address and get this
free book, which tells how damaged or worn
surfaces, in any finish, can quickly and
easily be made N E W again.
Every dealer, repair man and re-
finisher should read it. Sent post-
Brnmttg*.
paid—no cost, no obligation.
Write for it now—a card will do.
M. L. CAMPBELL CO.
2328 Penn St.
TUNERS
"Is the brown or white maple better? I have
noticed that the brown maple is more brittle
than the white, yet the brown seems heavier in
weight than the white and therefore would seem
to have a denser structure.
"Resiliency is, of course, a thing to be desired
in order that the hammer will spring quickly
away from the string after it is struck. What
type of maple will give this? While I am on the
subject, why was cedar discarded in favor of
maple? Did it lack this resiliency? It is cer-
tainly lighter than maple.
''Is the young tree a better bet than the old one
in selecting the proper wood? What section of
the country produces the best type? Does the
small mountain maple give better results than the
tree from the lower land?
"Occasionally I have noticed that the hammer
strikes a glancing blow and seems to wabble. I
have thought that the trouble was due to the
shank, but cannot account for the trouble in the
shank, for the shank has not been loose in the
butt or in the hammer."
Answer—The requirements of a hammer
shank are resiliency and high resisting power
against strain, both torsional and bending. White
maple is better. It is necessary to choose very
carefully the wood from which shanks are to be
cut and the action finisher must carefully examine
all that come to him, rejecting any which show
any weakness under bending. Excellent maple
comes from the Eastern States and the best wood
appears to be that which has grown and ma-
tured slowly.
Cedar is not good for modern pianos simply
because modern pianos are habitually pounded
by those who play on them. If all pianos to-day
were treated as gently as they used to be treated
one hundred years ago then we could have the
delightful tone and touch of that day, not to
mention the equally delightful appearance.
Maple shanks sometimes get into the piano
action in a warped condition, through the care-
lessness of the finisher. Again, it sometimes
happens that, owing to some fault in the spacing
of the tuning pins in the plate or (possibly) of the
hammer-butts of the piano action, the latter must
be shifted to one side or the other of its normal
position, in order that strings and hammers may
be brought together. When this has to be done
it is usually necessary to bend over the hammer
shanks by heating them and rubbing them with a
steel rod. They may later on spring back to
(Continued on page 12)
Make Music Rolls
PROFITS FOR THE TUNER
making special player roll! or those not rat by rerular
stomers a complete
roll manufacturer*. Or sell your ru
machine and make a liberal commission.
Free Instruction manual. Price of complete outfit, $12.50. Send
for details.
In
wHh upwards of
Here are
BASS STRINGS
• P M I B I afteatle* live* to the I H 4 I of MM t«««r •••* MM atalar
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
2110 Fall-mount Avenue
HAMILTON, O .
LEABARJAN MFG. C O .
Kansas City, Mo.
Philadelphia. Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
1OOO
SUCCESSFUL.
GRADUATES
COURTHOUSE SCI
VALPARAISO. IND.
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Description
Send for New Prices
New style all leather bridle strap
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Labor Saving; Mouse Proof; Guaranteed all ene lenfth
Send for Samples.
Prices on Request
Felts and Cloths In anu Quantitlet
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
Braunsdorf's Other Specialties
Paper, Felt and Cloth
Puncblnfs, Fibre W u h t n
and Bridge* for
Piano*, Or gran* and
Player Action*
Office and Factory!
4X0 Bast *8rd St., New York