Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
33
The Music Trade Review
SEPTEMBER 17, 1927
The Technical and Supply Department—(Continued from page 31)
me that my search was in the right direction
for finding rich tones. . . . I also found that
the blows given to the string of the pianoforte
. . . are too violent. These blows differ greatly
from the sensitiveness of the soundboard and
are therefore antagonistic to it and . . . create
noises and discordant overtones. . . . I was
bold enough to discard the old Cristofori sys-
tem in toto, to strike out in a new direction.
. . . This mechanism consisted of a system of
leverages and is quite free from all the acces-
sories of springs, etc., as found in the old
action.
"The introduction- of the hammer-release
(escapement let-off) by Cristofori, which has
been piously and reverently retained as a land-
mark and which it has ever been looked upon
by pianoforte builders as a heresy to remove,
T took upon myself not only to remove but to
cremate. . . . In thus gaining different tone-
colors by means of different strokes and un-
broken control over the hammer by means of
my new mechanism, I found that the instru-
ment which Cristofori was pleased to call
'piano e forte' was transformed into another
instrument. . . ."
What Steinert Meant
This description shows that Steinert had in
mind the total elimination of let-off as a fac-
tor in pianoforte touch. He intended to go
straight back to first principles and force the
pianist, by means of his touch upon the key, to
make the stroke of the hammer and then re-
tract this in time to prevent the damping of
the sound. This would have meant, of course,
the introduction of a new technic, and it was
probably this more than anything else which
led the musical world to ignore Steinert's
invention.
Still, Steinert did set some of us thinking, if
he did no more. I for one have never ceased
to think about the possibilities of his action,
and the more I have thought about it, the
plainer to me has been the truth that the secret
has all the time been in this one word "repe-
tition." The hammer now swings at the string
by virtue of a force which ceases to be applied
before the moment of contact, so that always
the amount of force exerted at the beginning
must be greater than would be necessary if
the control over the hammer were continu-
ous and not intermittent. In other words, it,
the minimum hammer-velocity at which an ef-
fective stroke can be obtained upon the string,
is greater with the pianoforte action as now
built than it would be with, say, a direct stroke
by means of a hammer held in the hand at the
end of a long-enough stem. This fact can be
tested by direct experiment.
Repetition, then, mechanically stated, reduces
itself last of all to this question of the mini-
mum velocity at which the hammer will operate
effectively. I mean of course in all this dis-
cussion, velocity at the beginning of the mo-
tion. And if we look, notl perhaps so far
ahead as Steinert did (though his looking for-
ward was really a case of looking backward
to what he believed to be a sounder principle
of tone production expressed in the simple tan-
gent of the clavichord) but only so far as will
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Piano Tuning, Pipe and Reed
Organ and Player Piano
YEAR BOOK FREE
27-29 Gainsboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
Tuners and Repairers
Our new illustrated catalogue of Piano and
Player Hardware Felts and Tools is now
ready. If you haven't received your copy
please let us know.
OTTO R. TREFZ, JR.
1305-7-9 No. 27th St.
Phila., Pa.
permit us to remain within the bounds of the
immediately possible, we shall see that we
come down at last through our problem of
repetition to the problem at the base, which
is the problem of minimum hammer velocities.
And we can then see again, and at once, that
this in turn rests upon the minimization of fric-
tion, elimination of rubbing contacts, so far as
possible, and finally, an approach to the direct
action of the Steinertonc.
All this, of course, looks far ahead, but un-
less one can look far ahead one can be sure
of nothing save stagnation. Now stagnation is
the basic technical trouble of our industry to-
day. It is no longer necessary to suppose
that the public mind prefers no improvements,
even though professional pianists and teachers
may view with alarm any movement calcu-
lated to upset their traditional methods and
the vested interests depending upon these. The
public mind is to-day interested in scientific
matters as never before, and every music mer-
chant who deals in radio knows that this is
so. We may therefore look forward confi-
dently to public support whenever improve-
ments, audible and tangible, shall have been
made.
Correspondence
is solicited and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Walnut Makers Meet
CHICAGO, III., September 10.—The American
Walnut Manufacturers' Association will meet
in convention in its headquarters at 616 South
Michigan boulevard on Thursday, September 15,
and a full attendance is promised. Several
hundred members of the National Hardwood
Lumber Association are expected at the an-
nual convention on September 15 and 16.
UNANIMOUS
is the choice of the country's leading piano makers
for American Perfected Piano Wire. This is the
wire used in every quality make of American piano
— indisputable evidence of the superiority of this
excellent product.
Perfected Piano Wire holds its tonal qualities.
It is guaranteed against breakage. It is a tough,
fibrous wire of absolute uniformity. It possesses
maximum tensile strength without extreme hard-
ness.
At the Paris Exposition in 1900, Perfected
Piano Wire was awarded the Gold Prize — shat-
tering once and for all the popular belief in the
supremacy of foreign wire.
Avoid cheaper grades of wire, with their con-
stant breakage. The truest economy is to use only
the best. Let us send you full particulars about
the wire that has met every test for more than
sixty years.
Services of our Consulting Acoustic Engineer always
available—free.
American Steel & Wire
Company
Sales Offices:
Chicago, New York, Boston, Cleveland, Worcester, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
Buffalo, Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Wilkes-Barre, St. Louis, Kansas City,
St. Paul, Oklahoma City, Birmingham, Memphis, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver,
Salt Lake City
Export Representative: U. S. Steel Products Co., New York
Pacific Coast Representative: U. S. Steel Products Company, San Francisco.
Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle