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44
The Music Trade Review
NOVEMBER 27, 1926
The Technical and Supply Department—(Continued from page 43)
practical way to get any. more out of the idea others to remain sounding. By very carefully
than he got.
judging the amount of time during which the Construction and Acoustics
A Fascinating Subject
damper felt touches the vibrating string, and
Topics at Western Meeting
The subject of harmonic stringing, as it has
sometimes been called, is, however, very fasci-
nating and in fact has occupied the attention
of some of the best minds our industry has
produced. It is one of those mysteries with
which one loves to play, the more because be-
hind all the failures there assuredly is something
solid. The physical facts on which the whole
thing rests of course are the facts of sympa-
thetic vibration and of the dependence of tone
quality upon partial tones. If, in other words,
we can introduce into the sound complex
emitted by a struck string an additional partial
tone, we shall enrich that sound complex, that
is, make it more complex still. The actual
acoustic effect will of course depend in turn on
what partial tone it is that is added; and the
choice of such a partial will of course again
depend upon the region of the instrument with
which we are dealing. Thus we know that the
bass strings mostly need strong fundamentals,
and so are not proper subjects for this "harmonic
stringing." The middle section is best served
by an increase in power of the fourth partial
and the upper treble by the addition of any
partials from the fourth upwards, the more the
better. It is this constant search for additional
partial tones which has given rise to the vari-
ous kinds of harmonic stringing which have
been tried. In addition to those I have men-
tioned there was the harmonic string added to
•each trichord in the upper treble by Paul G.
Mehlin many years ago, but afterwards aban-
doned. (Did not Hugo Sohmer once experi-
ment with the same idea?) Ahlstrom of James-
town within recent years did the same thing.
Yet I doubt that the additional sympathetically
vibrating string (it was not struck by the ham-
mer) did any great good. It gave the tuner
a little extra work and added several hundreds
of pounds to the stresses carried by the iron
plate; but that was about all when it is given
full consideration.
What May Yet Be Done
If, indeed, despite the obvious duty to be
about my knitting and to go on with the details
of drawing in the tuning pin holes, I continue
to talk about harmonic stringing, it is because
there is work to be done yet in this field, al-
though, as I said before, the Steinway method
of dealing with waste ends seems to me to
show all that can be done in this particular
region. There does, however, remain the ques-
tion whether the speaking length of the string
may be treated in some fashion which will per-
mit us to control the emission of partial tones
and so change its quality at will. What I mean
will be plain to any one who plays the piano
enough to understand something of what may
be done by means of the damper pedal. The
good pianist can make the pianoforte veritably
sing, by adroit and skilful use of the sustain-
ing pedal. What he does of course is to con-
trol the damping of the vibrating wires with
such skill as to cut off only those partial tones
he wishes to cut off, while permitting the
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
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the closeness with which it (especially the
wedge-shaped felt of the bass dampers) presses
on the wire, he can very largely control the
partial tone emission, and thus cause a struck
chord, for instance, not merely to produce the
fundamentals of the notes, but also a whole
series of related notes, which give the effect of
repetitions of the major chotfd (and of its in-
versions) belonging to each fundamental. Any
one who has heard the playing of a really great
artist will realize at once that he plays as much
with his feet on the pedals as with his hands on
the keyboard. Similar points could be brought
out with regard to the keyboard shift and the
sostenuto pedals, but this is not the place for
such a discussion, fascinating as it would be
to do it.
The Pease Patent
I might mention in passing that Pease of
Chicago has invented and patented a series of
"harmonic bridges" which he places in front
of the strings of a piano so as to touch very
lightly, at the will of the pianist, each wire at
a determined node on its speaking length. In
this way he is able to damp the fundamentals
of the struck strings and bring out at will
various partial tones. The tonal effect is most
interesting, and I hope that opportunities will
be allowed the inventor to complete his in-
vestigations.
After which we may go back to the drawing
board.
Correspondence
is solicited and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free oi charge for men who desire positions.
Western Technicians' Division to Take Up
Subject of Sound Boards at Next Meeting in
December
CHICAGO, III., November 20.—The monthly
meeting of the Western Division of the Na-
tional Association of Piano Technicians was
held Friday, November 19, at the experimental
laboratory of William Braid White, 5149 Agatite
avenue, chairman of the executive committee of
the Western Division, who continued and con-
cluded the subject he spoke on at the October
meeting—"The Acoustics of a Piano Considered
in Relation to Proper Construction."
Tone production, under the heading of "Con-
trol of Volume and Control of Quality," was
discussed in detail and Mr. White pointed out
the importance of calculating scientifically the
effect that the various materials have upon it,
such as string, hammers, wire, plates, etc. It
was emphasized that a great deal of time, labor
and expense would be saved in experimental
work on the piano if the various problems
were taken up from an engineering standpoint.
This led to the discussion of construction
of sound boards and it was voted that this
latter subject would be continued at the next
meeting with the various members taking part
in the discussion, which is led by Frank Weiser.
Following this, various questions were brought
up, which were answered by Mr. White with
the use of special apparatus and equipment of
the laboratory. The next meeting is to be held
at the City Club of Chicago on December 17.
Those present included H. P. Newquist, W.
F. Reinhardt, Leslie Hoskins, Otto Schulz, Jr.,
H. J. Richards, William Braid White, Charles
Klauber, Carl S. Williams, Frank J. Weiser,
Ben M. Strub, Charles E. Platte, Robert Home,
Jr., E. J. Nealy.
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