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The Music Trade Review
30
JUNE 18, 1927
The Technical and Supply Department (Continued from page 29)
by closer study of its processes, and that the
discrepancies existing among different regula-
tion methods as practiced in different shops are
due more to slight differences among actions
than to any other cause.
If pianos could be merchandised on merit
mainly, that is to say, if the piano were some-
thing new, just being put on the market by
modern high-pressure methods, improvements
in the action, which are both needed and ob-
vious, would already have been made. So long,
however, as pianos are sold upon false and mis-
leading talking points manufacturers will hesi-
tate to make mechanical changes, fearing unfair
treatment at the hands of retail dealers. Prob-
ably we can find the cause of many mysteries
as to action making and regulating in this simple
fact.
Tone Production
The second paper read during the afternoon
session of the Technicians was named "Piano
Tone Production; the Problem Stated and
Denned." In this paper, which was contributed
by me, the intention was to state as clearly as
possible the nature of the fundamental problem
of tone production, then to place it in the middle
of the picture and show it to be veritably the
center and basis of all tonal work. This prob-
lem, of course, is the problem of controlling
the shape of the wave form originally executed
by the string. In other words, as my readers
will at once understand, it is the problem of
controlling the emission of partial tones. In
the paper referred to I tried to show, and I hope
succeeded in showing, that every stretched
string, when struck by any sort of instrument
capable of setting it into periodic vibration,
necessarily executes its oscillations after a pat-
tern more or less complex, owing to the fact
that the original impulse delivered upon the
stretched string is reflected back from the re-
mote end to which it travels from the point of
excitation, and by this reflection sets up reflex
influences which necessarily cause the string to
break up into segments, each vibrating at a
frequency inversely proportional to its length.
The fact that this invariably happens with a
stretched struck string, no matter what its
length, the material of which it is composed,
or the tension at which it is stretched (at least
provided that this is sufficient to permit the
string to execute periodic vibrations) determines
with considerable accuracy and certainty the
entire problem of tone production in the piano.
This problem is then discovered to be the prob-
lem of determining in turn first what peculiar
combination of fundamental and partial tones
for each string will give the most desirable re-
sults, as measured by the general consent of
educated musical taste, and secondly what com-
bination of wire, sound board and hammer will
enable us to obtain the acoustic combinations
aforesaid. It is evident that if this method of
approaching the problem so stated be really
sound, quantitative determinations of vibration
forms may be made in due course. When made
they can be analyzed, and when analyzed they
can be reduced to their components. When this
has been done we shall be able to attack scien-
tifically the problem of producing the requisite
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wave form with something like certainty, ulti-
mately in fact finding out the precise conditions
within which the required forms can in practice
continually be reproduced. To understand the
nature of the problem, to state it, and to attack
the problem of determining its conditions quan-
titatively is to set oneself on the right road to
attaining to scientific accuracy and to steady
improvement in practical result.
Player Design
The third paper of the afternoon, and the
last one read at the convention, was contributed
by President Gutsohn, and dealt with the prob-
lems of player action design, touching also on
the care and use of the player-piano. Mr. Gut-
sohn spoke very interestingly of the methods
of design and the adjustment of the player ac-
tion to the piano action. In the course of the
discussion which followed his paper the point
was brought out that work has been done in
the research laboratory of the American Piano
Co. for the purpose of determining the optimum
dimensions of pneumatics. Work has also been
done, it appears, in the determination of con-
ditions of minimum friction between player and
piano actions. It seems to me that a great
deal of research remains to be done o^ this very
point last mentioned, for there can be no duiib,
that the friction (in grand reproducing pianos
for instance) between the player action and
the rear ends of the keys, where the contact
is made, is excessive. Examination of the bear-
ing surfaces can only confirm this assurance, for
these are commonly covered with felt, whereas
they should better be treated with graphited
buckskin, such as is successfully used in the
piano action. And there are many other points
of similar kind which have been neglected in
the development of the player action, but which
technically are wrong and call for improvement.
of the technical men to come to grips with their
problems and to do their part in putting the
American piano upon a new pinnacle of excel-
lence and achievement.
Correspondence
is solicited and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Courses All Filled
MADISON, WIS., June 13.— In its latest report, the
IT. S. Forest Products Laboratory announce- 1 "
that altogether 106 men received instruction in
wood utilization methods at the Laboratory
within four months, constituting a record. This
Spring, the short courses in wood were all filled
to capacity; the course in wood gluing was
given to seventeen men; kiln drying enrolled
twenty and boxing and crating was given to
twenty-four.
The instruction of kiln operators, glue room
foremen, shipping specialists, and executives in
the short courses is considered to be one of the
most effective means of making the results of
Laboratory research available to manufacturers
and users of wood products. To insure proper
attention to the individual problems of men at-
tending the courses, the Laboratory limits en-
rollments to sixteen, eighteen and twenty, ac-
cording to facilities available for the various
classes.
Hardwood Curtailed
Hardwood production has been considerably
curtailed in recent weeks by the Mississippi
Valley floods, according to the report of the Na-
It would obviously not be fitting to under- tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association. On
take any personal comment upon the relative the other hand, the flood has had the effect of
merits of these papers, but I am sure that I am stimulating shipments and new business in hard-
right in saying that the circumstances of their wood as compared with last year according to
delivery represent a new endeavor on the part latest reports.
Tuners Carrying Case
LIGHT—COMPACT—SERVICEABLE
Weighs Only 6 Pounds
Outside measurements 15J4 inches long, 7
inches wide, 8 inches high.
No. 150—Covered with seal grain imitation
leather. Each $13.00
No. 200—Covered with genuine black cow-
hide leather. Each $20.00 F.O.B. New York.
When closed the aluminum
trays nest together over the large
compartment, which measures
137/g" x 6" x 4". The two left hand
trays measure 137^" x 2*4" x iy & "
and the two right hand trays 13^g"
x3y 4 "xiy 8 ".
The partitions in
right hand trays are adjustable or
may be removed. Case is fitted
with a very secure lock and solid
brass, highly nickel-plated hard-
ware.
We have a separate Department to take care of special requirements
of tuners and repairers. Mail orders for action parts, repair materials,
also tuning and regulating tools are given special attention.
Hammacher, Schlemmer &. Co.
Piano and Player Hardware, Felts and Tools
New York Since 1848
4th Ave- at 13th St.