Music Trade Review

DECLMBEH
THE
22, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
WHICH IS THE BETTER FOR SOUNDBOARDS­
SPRUCE FROM THE EAST OR THE PACIFIC COAST?
A Consideration of the Relative Values of These Two Kinds of Spruce for Soundboard Con­
struction and a Study of the Requirements of the Material Necessary to Fulfill
Properly the Functions of This Part 'o f the Piano
.'\ mid-Vv'est piano m a nuf ac turer as k s m e to
sa y something ab o ut th e rel at ive efficiency of
V\Teste rn and Eastern gr own spr uce for sound­
board s.
The question is by no m ea n s easy to an swer.
It is very easy to d o d ~~'(': but I s hall n ot dodbc
it. 011 th e other hane!. I s hall sim pl y be g in
wi lh saying that while Eastern g ro wn sp ru ce is
bette r known and h a s a hi g her re putati o n be­
ca u se it ha s be e n so lon g used , \ <\;(,st('rn sp ru cc,
from th e Pacific Coast., is v er y ,,'ood and is
achievin.C: a fin e rep uta tion for it se lf.
H av in g said th a t much, it wi ll be bet ter fo r th e
ge nera l good of the question to say some th ing
ab out the a c tual req uir e ments of spru ce a s used
for piano soundboards. In such a wa y we m a y
lay down so m e dir ect io ns of ap pr oac h for con­
sider ins' th e whole qu es ti o n of Ihe kind o i
spruce b est to bu y fo r a ny special Ilia ke of
pi an o. In other wor ds, if w e ar e go in g to know
what to do in a g iv e n specific ca se, we must
first b eg in by finding ou t w hat are th e limi tin g
ci rcum stances, and what a re the fun ct ion s of th e
thing.
First: What Is It For?
Firs t, th e n, 'wh a t is the fun c tion of the sou nd­
boa rd? It is to tak e up a nd re c re:\te the so un d­
m a kin g motion s of th e piano 's str in bs, when
the se ha ve becn exc it ed by energ'y del iv e red at
the ke ys, in slI c h a m a nn e r a s to produc e th e
charac t e ri sti c kinds of sound wh ich we asso­
ciat e wit h t he piano. Now it is we ll knmNn
that if we .,e pal·.a te th e strin.gs entire ly from
the soundboa rd th ey are unab le to pr O'du ce any­
thin g li ke the t o na l re su lt whi c h we as sociat e
wi th the piano. Their vibrator y activities giv e
us onl y duJ! , feeble a nd s hort so un ds, whi c h di e
almost in th e mOlllcnt oc th eir pro ductio n. So
s oon, however, as we pl ace th em in co nt act
with eve n a rudil11 '~n: ar y soundboard, the to nal
po w er of the inst r unl e nt i, insta ntl y m ag nifi ed
in th e most st riking ma nner, a nd as mu ch in
res pect of qu a lit y as of quant it y. I ha ve se en
a ve ry o ld upri g ht pi a no of w hi c h th e strin gs
we re supporte d by a ha rp-like frallle s tand in g
som e s ix feet ve rtically from th e fl oor. Abov e
t h e keyb ed thi s harp -lik e fr ame stood quite bare,
wit h out so undbo a rd o r ba ck to frame it. Th e
so undboarcl was very sma ll a nd made no a ppea r­
ance a b ove the level of t h e keyboard. Y et the
tone ,'as piano tone and could not hav e b ee n
m ista k en for an y thin g " Ise. It was not po wer ..
fu l, but it was genu in e.
Simil a r cO ll s idera tions app ly to t he harp
HARLEM PIANO & ORGAN KEY CO.
IVOItY AND PORCELAIN CEMENT
FOR PIANO KEYS
This is a fine white ivory cold glue ,
We have spent 15 year. perfecting it,
Parcel POlt paid anywhere in U. S, for $1.
121-123 East 126th Street
New York. N. Y.
FAUST SCHOOL
I~
.
OF TUNING
I
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JV
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Pi.DO Taninr. Pipe and Reed Orraa
aDd PI.yn Pi.ao. Yur Book Free.
27 -29 Gain.boro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
p roper , w hi ch has a very sli g ht and e ve n rudi­
mentary so u nd board. Y e t a good harp has a
relllar k a bly powerful and fa r-car r yin g to ne a<;
anyone ca n discover by li stening to the work
o f iln a!·tist on thi s in s trument . In a word, the
,o u ndboard makes the piano.
Functions and P roperties
How d ocs it pe rform its fun c tions?
Ob­
"i o usly by taking t he vib ra ti o ns whic h are
o ri .c;- inated in the s trin gs a nd tr a ns formin g thrill
accordin;; t o it s o w n pecul iar ph ys ical prop­
el t ics.
vVh at, th e n, are thes e pr operties? . The w ood
which is llsed for sou nd board co nst ru c tion is
of the co nife rou s type, a nd gen era l opinion has
lo ng ago dec ided that th e m o untain-gro w n
spr uce, a kind of fir, is the best fo r th e pur ­
pose. 1 t is the best beca use its physical ma k e­
up is pecu liarl y ad a pt ed to th e work of co nve rt·
in g a nd enlarging, transforming and amp lif ying
motio ns o f a vi bratory nature impre ssed upon
it. I use all four participle s d elib e ra t ely, for
the so undb oar d, to a greater or le ss er extent in
each ca se, do es convey, e nlar ge, tran s form a nd
a mplify.
In o rd er to carry Ollt th is fun ct ion th e spruce
g rows in w hat may roughly be ca lled pa rallel
Ie nglhs o f hard and soft mate rial. The ha rd
fibr e, in other words, when the w ood is cut up
an d joined together in so undbo a rd s ha pe , is
see n to co m e in narrow lengt hs sepa rate from
each other by r egions o f r es in o us , s pongy mate­
ri a l a nd ro u g hly para llel. vVhen th e h a rd wood
is exam in ed under the micro scope it is seen to
consi s t of innum erable littl e ce lls, eac h ap par­
rntly a t ru e v ibr a tor in itse lf, a nd in a ppearan ce
no t a t a ll unlike the vibratin p: disk of a tele ­
phone or of a phon og rap h.
Proper Motions
Now it is plain th a t a soundboard w o uld have
li tt le tonal va lue if it respon d ed less imm ediatel y
and effic ientl y to some groups of vi bratory mo­
tions t han to others. In ot he r wor ds, if the
boa rd g ive s fort h, when unstrung and s tr uck, a
definit e musical s o und whi c h ca n be id e ntifi ed,
it s powers ,vill .be comp le tel y evoked onl y when
the strings are vibratin g in uni son with the
sound proper to th e boa rd. Th a t is to sa y, if
th e board has a defi nit e v ibratory 1lI 0t ion of its
own, \'~'h a( is ca ll ed a p rope r per iod, it will be
a poor boa rd a nd give out poor ton e save only
when t he pia no is bein g played in a key cor­
res ponding to. th at of th e proper sound.
TUNERS
11
REVIEW
_.l. sOll l,dboald should be neutral, and, b ecaus e
it sh o uld be neutral in tilis respect, the resinou s
region s should no t be too extensive, for if the y
a r e the board will probably have a proper period
dist in ctly marked, with the disadvantages de­
sc ribed .
The first thin g to look for th en, in my op in­
ion, is for wood in which the hard fibr es, though
distinct and kept sepa rate by th e r esinou s
I egion s, dominat e the physical s tru cture of the
board .
Experi e nc e s hows that this is a correct state ­
m e nt, a nd it is adv isable therefore to loo k for
a nd c ho ose woo d having this special charac­
t e ri s ti c.
What Wood to Choose
1v10reove l', I shou ld want alwa ys to ge t Illy
boards from log;; cut wher e th e trees had g r ow n
slow ly and with as mu c h s un shi ne as pos s ible .
Then, I shou ld not ca re to take th e wood too
fa r down the trunk; that is to say, below the
level o f my eyes. Moreover, I s hould be ve ry
so r ry to have to use s pruce w hi ch was in the
s li ghtest de g ree raw or g r een, meaning by that,
wh ich had not had ample tim e to m atu r e in the
0pen ai r.
This is no t said in order to cas t any doubt
IIpon th e ne wer m et hod s of dr y ing lumber whi ch
so co·nsiderably a bridge the tim e ca lled for by
the ope n-air p ro cess. I m ere ly mean to say
th at, if we t ak e, as \\;e may, the term of five years
for open-a ir drying as repres e nting the s hortest
perio d during w hi c h we may reasonably expect
s pruce to mature properly, th e n any art ificial
dl y i ng method which will produce the same .
physical effec ts ma y be s ubstituted .
The object of dryi ng, of cou r se , is to draw
o ut the s upe rfluous moi s tur e and to reduce eac h
piece to a condition in which the resin will b e
rendered inno cuou s so far as co nce rn s imposing
a ny proper motion upon a board made from it,
whi le at the same time the wood s hall not be
co mpletely devitalized.
Devitalization of Wood
T hi s m a tter of devitali zation, as it may be
ca ll ed , ha s p rob a bl y had less a ttention than it
(Cuntin u ed on page 12)
How to Repair Damage
to Varnished Surfaces
It explairul how )'OU taD e1l'eet • bl. . .,inl in
time. i.hor and rooney 00 aU your repatr
and toucb-up work.
It tell. bow to fi..J:
checked varnish. how to remove imprlnts and.
repair marl and scratches or every kind
FREE
'(How to Repair Damale to Varnished Bur­
races" eootains much ,aJuable iDtormatlon.
a~.l:ll t~~~re.s~P.~m~ho:~~~:.r ~~:
r or
yOUr (rM
cop,
toda,.
WRITE TODAY
It you are too bus1 to write • letter. pin thlJ
ad to your card or letterhead a.nd mall W UI.
You will r(>cehe a. cop, by return mall.
THE M. L•. CAMPBELL CO.
2328 Peon Street
Kanaaa ClIy, Mo.
Here are
Established 1901
BASS STRINGS
POLK TUNING SCHOOL
ID..lal _tt.ntloll liven •• tile IMd, .f til. tu ... and tit. d.al"
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
2 110 FairmOUDt Avenue
Pblladelphla, Pa,
The TUNER'S FRIEND
Pioneer school of piano, player-piano and Reproducinr
Piano t uning and repa1ring in tbe United States,
Complete Courses Taught In Seven to Ten Weeks
Write for terms and literature
POLK BUILDING
VALPARAISO, IND.
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Delcription
f!f
Send lor New Price.
New ItJle all leather br1.dle Itrap
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Labor Savini: MOUH Proof: Quaranteed aU one len,tt.
8f1nd for "amp'''.
PrlMl on Reau•• t
Felt. and Clot'" In Oflll Quanti/I..
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
Braunsdorl'. Other SpeCialties
PapU.
FeU
.ad
Vlotb
Pnnobln.a, Fibre WuIleno
.ad BrlQa for
P,-....._.
PI....,a. O r _ .ad
OIBM _ .
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