Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Music Trade Review
DECEMBER, 1929
Soft-pedalling the effects of
F O G . . H E A T and GOLD!
In the research laboratories of the American Piano Company, investigation and experiment go on
unceasingly. Tone is photographed and analyzed. New units are tested without need of building a
piano to incorporate them. Hammer velocity is measured, so it may be accurately controlled. Climatic
conditions are simulated and their effect noted, so resulting troubles may be mastered—and so on.
H'.re is the VOLUMETRIC MEASURING TANK
which tells exactly how many cubic inches of air per minute
are required to operate the Ampico or any part of it. The
tiniest leak that might escape notice of eye or ear, and
perhaps give trouble later, is instantly revealed by this de-
vice. This precision testing makes for mechanical accuracy,
which reduces the need of servicing to the minimum.
—-and here is the H Y G R O M ET RIC CABINET for testing
piano actions
In this hermetically sealed cabinet can be simulated atmos-
pheric conditions found anywhere from Singapore to Saska-
toon. The damp air of Long Island's dog days, the dry heat
of Arizona summer, the crisp cold of Quebec winter, the
salt sea fog the ship's piano meets off the Grand Banks—are
created to order—and forty actions may be tested simul-
taneously. In the picture above the Piano Touch Analyzer
is recording the res.ults of the Hygrometric Test.
andherein the ACOUSTICAL ROOM of the Laboratory
you see the Oscillograph set up to measure piano tone
quality. The draperies and rugs in this room reduce the
reverberation period to correspond to the ideal home con-
ditions. The Oscillograph shows an actual picture of the
tone produced by the note struck. Through this picture
the tone may be analyzed—reduced tc its component parts.
In these laboratories, no fault in piano action or Ampico mechanism is too trivial to be corrected, and
its recurrence forestalled. Always the quest is for improvement—in tone, in smoothness of action—in
making the piano more and more fault-proof. The results reflect credit on the dealers identified with
the pianos named below, and bring increased satisfaction to the public that buys these instruments.
AMERICAN PIANO COMPANY
5 8 4
F I F T H
MASON 8C HAMLIN
A V E N U E
KNABE
.
CHICKERING
HAINES BROS.
N E W
J. & C. FISCHER
Y O R K
MARSHALL & WENDELL
AND THE AMPICO
The Music Trade Review. Published Monthly by Federated Business Publications, Inc., 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, Single copies, 20 cents; $2.00 per year. Vol. 88. No. 29.
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.