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39
The Music Trade Review
JUNE 19, 1926
The Technical and Supply Department—(Continued from page 38)
hand or sustaining pedal. The movement needs
Plywood Cost Club
no special description, being obvious, but the
regulator should sec to it that the damper levers
Discusses Veneer Problems
all rise simultaneously. If there is any irreg-
Each damper should sit square on its strings
—three, two or one, as the case may be. This
is the first point to be ascertained, and if it be
found that any of the damper heads is not lying
squarely, the screw in the vertical lever may be
loosened and the wire adjusted as required.
Sometimes it may be necessary to readjust the
damper head by bending it on its wire.
The Sostenuto
We have meanwhile omitted notice of two
important parts of the damper action which
must now be considered. Projecting from each
of the vertical wire-carrying levers will be found
a felt-covered wooden tongue. Immediately in
front of the row of tongues will be found a
brass rail, which may be made to rotate on its
axis (being fastened into guides at each end),
when the middle or sostenuto pedal is depressed.
It will be observed that when all the dampers
are at rest on the strings (which is the same as
saying when all the keys are at rest), the brass
rail may be rotated in front of the tongues with-
out touching any of them. When, however,
any one of the dampers is raised and if after
that the pedal is depressed, it will be found that
the rail checks the downward drop of the
damper because the tongue can no longer pass
the rail until the latter has been allowed to
rotate back to its position of rest. In other
words, when the rail is at the bottom of its arc
of movement it does not interfere with any of
the tongues, but when it is at the top of this
arc, then any tongues which have risen mean-
while arc prevented from falling downward
until the pedal has been released. Tongues
which have not been raised are, of course, not
effected. All this can be tested easily enough
by lifting one of the damper levers with the
hand and then depressing the sostenuto pedal.
It will be found that (1) the damper is held up
only if the pedal is depressed after the sound
has been made, and (2) that keys may be de-
pressed while the pedal remains dozvn, without
effect upon their dampers, which return to rest
without hindrance. From this it is evident that
the sostenuto rail is adjusted so as just to catch
and hold up an already raised damper, but that
dampers raised after the rail has been rotated
(i. e., after the pedal has been depressed), are
not affected. Evidently the object of the device
is to enable the musician to cause one single
unison to remain vibrating after it has been
sounded, without need to hold down the key.
It is also evident that unless the rule is care-
fully followed of reversing the ordinary pedal
technic by depressing only after the sound has
been made in each case, the sostenuto effect
will be lost.
Necessity of Space
I have taken a good deal of space to discuss
this point because I have found a great deal of
misunderstanding about it among men who
ought to be. mechanical experts; as well as
among musicians. The latter, as a rule, very
poorly appreciate the possibilities of the sosten-
uto effect. In Matthews' "School of the Piano
Pedal" there are special studies intended to de-
velop the technic of this pedal, but it is worth
noting that among living great masters Pade-
rewski does not use this device and, in fact, will
not tolerate its presence on his concert pianos.
Nevertheless all grand pianos and some up-
rights carry it, so that the regulator must un-
derstand it.
Pedals
Speaking of pedals, it will not be forgotten
that the whole set of damper levers is to be
raised simultaneous^ by the action of the right-
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ularity he must adjust the wires on the vertical
wire-carrying levers.
Soft Pedal
Moreover, the left-hand, or shifting, pedal
requires some understanding. It bears against
a heavy iron lever protruding through the key-
bed and in turn bearing (when the action is in
place) against a rail of the key-frame. When
the pedal is depressed this action moves the
whole key-frame with action and keys slightly
to one side so that the hammers strike only two
strings of each unison instead of three, and only
one of each bass double unison. This not
merely reduces the quantity of the sound, but
changes also its quality, owing to the sympa-
thetic vibration of the unstruck string in each
unison. In regulating this, it is mainly neces-
sary to see that the large spring in the side of
the key-bed returns the frame to its normal
place promptly on release of the pedal. Tf it
does not, it must be strengthened, as by putting
a washer between it and the arm of the case
where it is fastened. I have already spoken
of the bolts in the frame on which the latter
slides when this pedal is worked, so this need
not be gone into here.
(To be continued)
Number of Papers Read in Discussion Dealing
With Leading Questions in Veneer Practice
Correspondence
CHICAGO, I I I . , June 5.—A meeting of the Ply-
wood Cost Club of Chicago was held recently
at the Hotel Morrison, this city, and was at-
tended by several representatives of the music
industries. The program included a number of
papers on veneers and veneering, which were
of particular interest to the piano manufacturers
in attendance. M. Wulpi, commissioner of the
National Plywood Manufacturers' Association,
urged that the Chicago Plywood Club co-oper-
ate with the Association in the establishment of
reliable and differential costs and values be-
tween widths and thicknesses of plywood. This,
it is claimed, would reduce losses.
The list of papers read at the meeting in-
cluded the following: "Grading and Pricing
Butt Walnut Veneers," by R. T. Valone, of
Jamestown, N. Y.; "Shop Councils and Their
Effect on Costs," by W. M. Fox, of New Lon-
don, Wis.; "Matching Figured Veneers," by J.
C. Emerson, of Cattaraugus, N. Y.; "Values of
Specific Operative Costs," by H. W. Althen, of
New Albany, Ind.; "Distribution of Overhead,"
by V. C. Schmidt, of Ml. Pleasant, Mich.; "Time
Yield on I,umber and Veneer," by H. J. Usadel,
of Sheboygan, Wis.
is solicited and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
New Marks Number
Schneider on Vacation
Adam Schneider, treasurer of Julius Bauer &
Co., left last week to spend the Summer at his
home at Lake Bulah, Wis. Mr. Schneider, for
the past several years, has taken an extended
rest during the warm weather at his Summer
home.
The Edward M. Marks Music Co. is publish-
ing a new song by Frisch & Bergere called "I'm
Just A Wallflower." The number, while popu-
lar, is of the better type and the Marks firm
intend to exploit it on a wide scale.
Consult the Universal Want
The Review.
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