J 1'LY
THE
28, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
SUBSTITUTING NEW MATERIALS FOR OLD
ONES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIANOS
Likelihood of Having to Discover New Material s to Use in Place of Some Types of Lumber Now
Used in Making Pianos Is Strong in Our Own Time-The Problems of Maple and
Chestnut-Conserving the Present Supply by More Economical Methods
It is the part o f a wise man not to be ala rmed
at the impendency o f ch anges; but it is equa lly
his part not to ignore the phenomenon. It
,,"ollld not be wise to worry unduly or pr e pare
to aba ndon business because the lumb er , it ua
tion is a lr ea d y ser ious and li kely in tim e to
become c riti ca l.
Still less wise, ho,vever, it
wou ld be to ignore cheerfu ll y a ll the s igns of
the times and rest comfort ably in the belief
t h at whatever happens wi ll , at any rate, not
hap pen in our time.
For it is by no means certain tllat serious
trouble will n ot com e i n our time. It is by
no llleans ccrLlin th at we s hall not have, within
;~ (kcade, to look very close ly at the question
of pro,idin g certain substit u te~ ior lumber;
w hile it is abso lutely ce rtain that o ur duty this
\ ( r , ' .\;.,. is to do a ll in our power to conserve
our u se of e, cry kind of wood a nd take all
po~,ib l e steps to r educe our demand for every
type and kind 01 whi,h the sup ply is a lready
iJecoming scan t.
A fter a ll, w h en the cris is comes in each kind
o[ lumber we are now using-. we sha ll ha\'c to
cha n,~c to some su bstitute, whether woo d or
,-o' nethin g else, and we mi g ht much bettc r do
: he thinkin g and the wo rryin g now before the
· ,]atter escapes from even the limited control
, .. e can now exert upon it.
The Maple Question
One of the most serious difficulti es at present
c' x iqin::c in thc lur:: \)er trade: refer s to thc sup pl y
n[ SUCll kind s of maple as are common ly used
piano makin g . The supply in the Eastern
Sta tes is within s ight of extinction, nOr would
eve n the mos t perfcct and widespread system
of refo resta tion suffice to re stor e th e old
"bu11.dan cc until Cit k~s t r, it y ye a]', lla d ~one by.
The Obstacle to Reforestation
;\Cl\\', ;j is to be ob,e rvcci in cidenta ll y that a
:e \,\' lar gc par t of thc by no means ncg.lig-i ble
oppo:;it ion to c, n y and all pro posa ls for national
r eforcstation arises from the co mplaint b y
owner s of cleared timb er la nd s and by COiTl
J11unitics abu tting upon s uch lands that t o re
plant i, to bene!i! the: n ext ge nera tion at th e
"-,pc n se of this one. They say, n o: \\ ;thout
" utl ', llt«t :, ,i.e ., c lan ds ar" ,cserved for tree
.; ro\ling ciur in g thc next fifty years the y wi ll
be unable to rea li ze up on their investments
th c r e in . This is true enough, but it principally
se rves to shov, t h at these la nd s oug ht never to
hav e got into pri vate hand s in th e first plitce.
In the seco nd place, h oweve r, it also s h ows
HARLEM PIANO & ORGAN KEY CO.
IVOItY AND PORCELAIN CEMENT
FOR PIANO KEYS
This is a fine white ivory cold glue.
vVe have spent I S years pe rf ecting it.
Parcel post paid a ny whe re in U. S. for $1.
121-123 East 126th Street
NelN York. N. Y.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Piano TUDinl'. Pipe and Reed Orr••
aDd Player Piano. Year Book Free.
27 -29 Gainaboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
th rtt to put th rough a complE- t e policy of national
reforestat ion, w hil "t society is organi zed u pon
it s present ba s is, is probab ly to propose a n
impossible t a~ k. The comp le te c);tin ,c t ion of o ur
lumber , ('so ur ces is therefor e not an impos si
bility. Th e incalc ul abl e consequ ellces of allow
ing thi s t o happen shc:1I not, lar ge ly b ecause
th ey need not, be de scanted u pon here. They
are too obvio us.
Maple and Piano Backs
R C~ lIr ll ing t o o ur map le, it is certain that wc
must do so m ething in the n ear futu r e to s ub
s titute other s uitable mat er ia l for it in piano
co nstru ction. It s present usc is mainly in ba ck
fr aming and it has llitherto .be e n re ga rded as
indisp e nsable for ba ck pos t " top and bottom
ba ck rail s (on upri g hts and upri g h t p layers),
o uter rims (on g rand s) and "Test planks.
T h e re i, no doubt at a ll tl ,at the wooden back
of the t:pri g ht piano is a n unncc essa ry lu xu r y. It
has b~en prov ed at least thr ee di ffe re nt time s
th at· on e can ge t alo ng' very well wit hout it,
The Steck patents of years ago, thc s till earlier
German construc ti on and the rece nt Dan e I' i n
ventions, which h ave been thoro u gh ly success
ful, a ll s how th at ther e is no es s ential reason
for the usc of wood in forming the st ru ct ure
whic h su pport s thc so undboar d and part of ~hc
pull of t h e st r ing s . A s SOOn as th e prob lem is
e xamin ed it is see n that it is not so Jlluch th at
of providin g a g reat mas s of irol1 o r oth er sub
slitute mat e ria l, as of distributing the carryin",
' ll elllbcrs in the ri g ht way. For ill st ance, 0 11<.'
co uld support the string stresses mCf ely by the irSJn
p late, without any woode n back at a ll , but [o r
thc fac t that the shape of th e plate, as a br oad ,
shallow sh('ct, prevents it fr om ca rr y in i: Ih
load with o ut buckling. If, on the ot her hand,
",CO t,iate \I'ere buil t of I-b e'lms, and cspccialh'
if it were made of s teel , the same weight as is
to be found in a ll ord inar y plate ,,'olIld, wil h Olit
doubt, suffi c e to car ry the entire st ru c tur e of
t he pia no.
About the Wrest Plank
The w r es t plank is, of ctu rse, a maple prod
'_ le'_ ', !"o u ghou l , nor will therc iJ e, i' ,ell ;\ rob
a bi Ii ty, a n)' c hance to substitute ano ther ma
te"i" l until a l1l echa ni ca l lunin g pin has been
invenled which Ih e tUller,s wi ll
\V e
know qui ll' \l'ell that s uch a tn ni n g p in is per·
fe c tl y feasible, for the l\1asol1 &. I-Tanliin sc rew
stringer proved that lo ng ago. Th e prohlem is
to get the tuners to take up a new idea and
Jlot to pre sc nt to it
fro llt o i lll1i tcd Ito,;til i!y .
TUNERS
11
Ther e is, how eve r , one th1l1 g which oug ht to
be said . For reasons not easy to understand,
it is customa ry to build the wrest plank con
siderab ly wide r than is needed. It cou ld be
built so as just to ,l!:ive e nough spa ce for th e
tuning pin s and for the fastening screw s. There
is u s ua ll y a g r eat deal of waste, which o iten
ri ses as hi g h as 20 per cent of th e total amount
of wood ll sed. More careful cutting, esp eciall y
in connection w ith g r and wr es t p lanks, would
here b e very practica l.
Core Woods
\Vhethe r anythin g ca n be done in the way
of s ub st itutes for the present c ore wo ods u se d
in case makin g is not easy to tell. Th e , uppl y
situa tion is unfortunate ly ser iou s. The woo d s
which "'e r e u ~ ed twe nty yca rs a,e'o a re no w
mainl y un avai la ble an d ('\' en the c h estn ut whi ch
is n o,\, so much employed is in d a n ge r of ex
haustion. Of rourse, substitute woods will be
available in imporl for some tim e aft e r the
v isib le s uppl y of c h es tnut is exh au sted; but
a l ready it is nec essary to a s k ourse lves w h e ther
we rea ll y ne e d to u se ' '',.pel1si,·c and SOOI1 to-be
"ca rce lum bec for co res and ot h er 'v,'or k of the
kind.
Th e u sc of ;'; bcr has be en suggested. but thi s
does nOl he lp matters, since th c dra in upon the
supply of suita ble wood is in thi s case equa ll y scr i
u u ,. On ly certain woo d s a re :l sdul for fibcr
nl;.lIl1f;]cI Urc :. Ie: only <.. :",'. e n r th e wood pulp
w hi c h makes paper an d w hi ,h can be com
pressed int o sheets rivalinf' stee l in st iffnes s
and po we r to r es ist strain, H,rc
subie ct
oj th e utm ost imporla n ce. It is n rc cssary 10
di scover so me s ubqitut e jor ches tnut wood ,
sO llletl',n ", w hich will take a '",nee r of fancy
wood <,nd otherw ise will be as i'oo d ,b I he
c li c<.c mH or 01 lin 1I:, ,, lh .. ::S C0 .
1\{etal constru ction for piano aC"ion s h as not
~c riou ~ ly been cons id e red since t h e disastrous
exp e ri e n ce of the old Chi cke rin g' hOll,"l' m a n ,'
ye ars ag". But it i~ certain to COIll e up again
in some lorm, a n d , . h en it cioe o co me up it
"ill h ,i\'\: ',0 be '- o lvcci, The remar k able s tricl es
(CuII / iIlHc'd ()n i'age 12 )
Prolils-Prolils
More profits lor you
OUT booJ< te ll s you ho,v to in
creaSl : .r ollr pl"oflts.
JJ ow to
cut the d~maged goods, losses.
FREE
"'r hj~ "l':1 1n .q.ble boo .... tpl l d you "H.ow to repair
dam age to ,'arnished s urfaces." If you are in
teres ted in redUCing you r losses write f or your
copy, on your firm station ery, or send na me of
firm, otherwise enc]ose ten cents to cover
[l()sta,;e.
W!'if~
The M. L. Campbell Co.
Kansas Clly. Mo.
23 Penn. Street
In it's :lot)r~ar
Here are
BASS STRINGS
~
wi1h upwards of
_
~
1000
Speelal attention liven t. Ul' IMd. e1 til. tuner and Ut. deal.r
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
21]0 Fairmount Avenue
Pblladelphia, Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Description
crt
Send for New Prices
New stYle all leather bridle .trap
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Lab"r Savina: Mouse Proof ; CluaraRt.ed all olle leagth
.end tor Samples.
Prleel on Request
F.lta and C1o'h. In QrICI QuonU/i..
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
Braunsdorf·s Other Speclaltle8
Paper.
Felt
and
Cloth
Po.nCb!D"S, Fibre Wa8berFi
and Brld$e8 tor
Pianos, Or.-ane and
Player '&'<'*1_.
0 ... _.
uo .... t
APel
F~:
St..
111'....
Yeril
tJ/A!l: MAI!I\