Music Trade Review

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JANUARY 3,
THE
1925
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
13
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
Conducted By William Braid White
Some of the Outstanding Possible
Achievements During the Present Year
been adopted in the accessory trades to the
end of finding how and what they can teach
piano manufacturers.
It must not be forgotten, of course, and, on
the other hand, that the manufacture of pianos
Pitch, the Problem of the Small Grand, Standardization in the Supply Field, the Reproducing
is the manufacture of articles which demand
Piano, Engineers and Mechanics, Are Some of the Problems Which Can Be Brought
at some part or other of their construction the
Nearer Solution During the Present Twelve Months
interposition of human skill to manage the in-
calculable variables which creep into every mech-
T is the first week of the New Year. A or later have to get away entirely from the idea
anism for producing tone. Unfortunately, tone
twelvemonth of possible achievement is be- and to a scale which shall recognize facts and is itself incalculable and so cannot be provided
fore us. There is much that we shall do not try to avoid or to fight them. High ten- for in advance. Human skill must enter into
and still more that we may do if we but have sion, ovcrbarring, stiff stringing, etc., will have its perfecting, and human skill again is not to
the will. Let us talk about some of these to be put aside, I think, in favor of light con- be measured by rule or balance. Standardiza-
struction, low tension, light stringing and, in tion, even within each factory alone, is not
things.
general, a design fitted to the dimensions which
Pitch
therefore wholly attainable. One of the biggest
First of all, then, during 1925 we shall make are desired.
technical tasks is to reduce the amount of the
I think, of course, that it would really be incalculable elements, and this can best be done
a definite effort to obtain an agreement'upon a
standard pitch, to be adopted by all the music better if we could all agree not to make any by obtaining the best possible fundamental de-
industries and to be recognized everywhere as grand pianos less than sixty-three inches long, signs. This again means the restoration of
but, seeing that there is a demand for some- scientific methods to the eminence from which
the American standard. This means that after
many years and at last we are about to make thing still smaller, we find before us a task of
they were hurled down when the era of the
the first serious effort to organize a founda- the utmost importance and complexity.
cheap piano began.
Where to Learn Production
tion upon which a later structure of scientific
The Reproducing Piano
production may be built up. Standard pitch'is
In the accessory and supply trades which
The reproducing piano is destined to become
the first requisite for the future systematic or- minister to the needs of piano manufacturers
a greater and greater factor in the piano busi-
ganization of production in the music industries, great strides have been taken within the last
ness and the technical problems bound up with
and until we have that we shall never be able to few years towards the attainment of that mass
it must progressively become more complex.
achieve mass methods.
production on mechanical system which is the At the present time, with a new year opening
Nor is this the only benefit to be derived ideal of all production methods. The player before us, we may truly say that it is time to
from a scientific determination of a satisfac- action of to-day, for instance, is produced by
recognize the emergence of the reproducing
tory standard pitch. The musical profession methods almost as well standardized as the piano from the swaddling clothes of experiment
demands a settlement and musical art needs it. methods used in making Ford cars. This is be- and the need for putting its construction upon
Everything connected with the music to which cause the whole process, from cutting the lum- a firm basis. The first step towards doing so
our industries minister will be advantaged by ber right up to the assembly, consists of in- will, to my mind, have been taken when con-
the adoption of a standard pitch. After a quar- definitely repeatable processes. Every pouch struction has been carefully restudied in an
board is like every other pouch board, and only effort to accomplish (1) better appearance, (2)
ter century of wandering in the wilderness of
confusion we are going to try to put matters in respect of its scaling is there any variation
greater mechanical simplicity and (3) better ar-
upon a systematic basis. This is a big job, of process. I said that the manufacture of such
rangement and fitting of accessory details.
and if it be carried through during 1925 we shall actions is almost standardized. The exception
Present reproducing player actions share
is concerned only with the matter of assembly.
have cause for self-congratulation.
with ordinary player actions the many advan-
Different
pianos
have
different
scales
and
there-
Little Grands
tages in pneumatic stack and superstructure
Tlini it will be easy, I think, for piano man- fore varied patterns must be used for boring construction which have been worked out dur-
and
putting
together.
Otherwise,
player
action
ufacturers to do a great deal more work of the
ing twenty years of general player development.
most useful character in building up the con- manufacture is a standardized process, lending
In the reproducing action proper, however, we
itself
to
mass
production
very
readily.
Similar
struction of the small grand piano. Within the
arc still experimenting, still in the personal
past ten years the small grand has emerged considerations apply even more strongly to the phase where the hypotheses of each inventor
from its original position as a timidly tried minor accessory trades where the articles pro-
retain in his mind an undue importance and
experiment and has become an outstanding fea- duced are simpler.
where there is more desire to preserve indi-
Now, it is very probable that these accessory viduality than to attain a fool-proof easily built
ture of the contemporary piano trade. But the
technical problems of construction have by no and supply trades will teach the piano manufac- design. It should be one of the tasks of the
means all been solved. The fact is that the turer most of what he must know before he coming year to get rid of a great deal of this
building of a good small grand is the most can put piano making upon a production basis. tangled growth of unnecessary and often re^;
difficult technical job ever put up to the piano I am assuming, of course, that in some way or duplicative detail in favor of simpler design.
industry, as the factors which have to be har- other the sales experts of the industry will be There is too much unnecessary complication
monized arc almost wholly discordant with able to increase their sales as time goes on, for about the expression devices of the reproducing
each other, and even in the direction of obtain- if they do not there will be no sense in trying piano and a great deal of important and val-
ing a compromise there is a great deal remain- to build up production methods. Nevertheless, uable work can be done in the matter of reduc-
the whole trend of the piano industry is towards ing things in this department a great deal more
ing to be done.
Now, the problem is to resolve the difficulty the elaboration of such methods, and it seems to their essentials. The era of the inventor
by creating a small grand which shall have good to me that part of the work which is to be done ought by this time definitely to have closed
tone and at the same time be good to look during 1925 in the technical field will be to make and to have been replaced by the era of the
upon. The solution is probably only to be found a studv of the machine methods which have engineer.
by striking out new paths and getting away
Yet another task awaits us. The piano busi-
from the idea of a large scale cut down, which
ness is passing through a phase of transition.
has always been the curse of small grand con-
{Continued on page 14)
struction. I think myself that we shall sooner
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