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43
The Music Trade Review
APRIL 24, 1926
The Technical Department—(Continued from page 42)
"A curve can be drawn embodying all these
data, and it will then be found, that the perfect
pianoforte tone is simply the most complete
realization of what every piano maker is striving
to obtain. The finest piano made realizes this
ideal better than all others simply because of
what its construction embodies in care, science
and art."
Not only indeed can a curve be drawn em-
bodying all these data graphically and also ac-
curately, but they may also, when arrived at as
closely as possible, be set forth in the form of
the equation of the curve according to the usual
methods of analytical algebra.
If now each of a hundred piano makers were
to take this equation or this curve for his ideal,
and were to attempt to produce sounds which
when compared by phonodeik methods should
approach closely to the original pattern, there
would nevertheless be a hundred different quali-
ties, some of which would indeed be hardly
distinguishable from others, but most of which
would be easily identified as individual and dis-
tinctive. There would be not the least proba-
bility of any loss of individuality among various
piano makers.
The question then which is so important to us
is whether this ideal, which really does embody
the aims and the aspirations of the greatest
American piano makers, is being maintained by
their successors. And there is no easy answer.
There is an immense amount of talk going on
just now about the future of the piano, and a
great deal of good sense is being employed in
analyzing the facts disclosed by investigation
and in suggesting remedies for them. Yet the
last remedy which is being put forth is the rem-
edy of better tone. Yet surely among all the
thousand and one remedies which are being so
glibly prescribed, this simple one should not be
overlooked. It is at least arguable that better
pianos would be better selling pianos.
At any rate there are some technicians who
believe that good piano tone can be accom-
plished to an extent never yet realized, and they
propose to do what can be done by common
study and discussion to bring about improve-
ments recognizable by all. Such was the gist
of the discussion which forms the text for this
present paper.
Practical Shapes of the Tone Question
Meanwhile, however, it is well to point out
that in discussing great questions of tone we
cannot properly lose sight of the practical shapes
in which our problems will come to us. To-day
what we practically have to do is to satisfy with
small grands and with small uprights a tonal
taste based upon the magnificent achievements
of the makers of concert grand pianos. Now
the small grand piano of to-day can be, and
often is, a very lovely thing tonally speaking.
It can be, and often is, endowed with a tonal
quality which irresistibly reminds one of a con-
cert piano simply reduced to the requirements
of a small room. But the fact is that to obtain
any such tonal result as this we need to solve
problems of design and of construction which
are actually far more complex than any with
which the maker of concert grands has to meet.
A great deal of nonsense has been talked
about concert grands, and about their design and
construction. So far from there being any ter-
rible secrets buried in the concert grand, the
fact is that a piano of this size provides the
designer with a field of operations on which he
can deploy all his forces without the least fear.
He is not cribbed and confined as is his fellow
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who has to work upon the restricted field of the
baby or miniature instrument. He can place his
string lengths as he wants them, can have
plenty of space for his bridges and can be sure
of placing them where they will best transmit
their vibratory motions to the soundboard. The
latter he can be sure of making elastic and
responsive. His stresses he can distribute better
and he can be much surer of first-rate tone.
Poor small grands are to-day the worst ene-
mies of the piano industry and when we speak
of "good tone," it is evident that we can only
mean the kind of tone which has been described
in this paper, applied to and realized in this
latest and most popular of all pianos. To realize
such a tone is now the task of our technicians.
I believe that they will not overlook their mani-
fest duty in the circumstances.
Correspondence
should be addressed to William Braid White,
5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
"Wormy" Chestnut and
Its Factory Utilization
Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., Is-
sues Article on Uses of This Type of Lumber
Some valuable information on "wormy"
American chestnut timber is contained in an
article released this week by the Forest Prod-
ucts Laboratory, Madison, Wis., as Technical
Note No. 224. From the article it is evident
that blight-killed chestnut has numerous uses,
for which it may even be preferable to most
other woods, depending on the number of years
that have followed since the death of the tree.
"The blight, which is attacking the entire stand
of thirty-five million acres of chestnut can not
be controlled," states the Laboratory's article.
In ten years the infection will be practically
complete and in fifteen years there will be little
or no sound chestnut left throughout the land.
"For a year or possibly two after death a
blight-killed chestnut tree will furnish just as
good wood as any cut from a live tree. If the
tree is left standing longer than two years the
sapwood begins to decay, but the heartwood
still remains sound and suitable for a great num-
ber of sawed products. In the next stage of
deterioration the heartwood begins to dry out
and consequently to check. Lastly, if within six
years the tree is not cut and taken from the
woods the heartwood becomes infected with
decay, which destroys its usefulness for practi-
cally all purposes except extract wood and
fuel.
"Because of its ease of gluing, moderate
shrinkage, and comparative freedom from warp-
ing, chestnut is especially suitable for furniture
core stock. Wormy chestnut satisfies the re-
quirements just as well as the higher grades. It
is sometimes claimed that the holes permit
better adhesion of the glue, but this advantage
does not appear in strength tests.
"Chestnut that is free of worm holes can be
used for millwork and planing-mill products,
furniture lumber, and cabinet material. Sap-
wood decay is not a serious drawback in such
uses, for the thin outer layer of softened wood
is slabbed off in manufacture and the tem-
peratures used in kiln drying will sterilize the
stock.
"A list of 200 specific uses for which chest-
nut is reported to be satisfactory is available
at the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison,
Wis."
New Tracker Patent
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 19.—Patent No. 1,580,-
240 was last week granted to Gustav A. Fors-
berg and Thor W. Granberg, Chicago, 111., for
a tracking device for player-pianos.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review.
TUNERS
AND
REPAIRERS
Our new catalogue of piano and
Player Hardware, Felts and
Tools is now ready. If you
haven't received your copy
please let us know.
Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co.
New York, Since 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.