Music Trade Review
Issue: 1922 Vol. 74 N. 16 - Page 14
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12
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OUR TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
(Continued from page 11)
must be careful to see that they are kept strung
on the wire which passes through their eyes
until each is wanted, for to put on a bass string
in the wrong place is disastrous.
After all strings are in place it will be well
to go over the pins with a hammer, gently strik-
ing them down to a firm bed in the wrest-plank
It is then well again to go over them, this time
with the tuning hammer, to see if they turn well
and easily. Loose or sticky pins may be remedied
at this point, either by chalking them or else by
putting in new ones of larger size.
The wire must now be spaced; that is to say,
the three wires in each unison must be brought
together at just the right distance from each
other. It is calculated by scale draughtsmen that
the distance from center string and center string
of two adjacent unisons should average one-half
inch, except at the lowest strings of the treble
and of the bass respectively. A string-spacing
iron is useful and can be made by filing notches
in a broad screw-driver.
Any tape required may now be wound in, and
then the piano should be ready for chipping.
The first chipping is necessarily rough. I have
always gone about it by pulling the middle C up
to C sharp by my tuning fork and then quickly
raising the octave C's up and down in accord
with this. Then I pull up the strings in between
the C's by ear, using the latter simply to check.
The second chipping may be done after the new
strings have been rubbed down (not too vio-
lently) with a cleft stick covered with a bit of
buckskin.
The second chipping should be done quite care-
fully. The pitch may be placed at about half-
way between A-S17 and A-540 and the bearings
should be laid as carefully as possible. Then the
rest of the work may be done just as in tuning,
by octaves up and down. I also recommend
strongly a third chipping, which may be done
after giving the strings a rest of a day. This
should be taken at the pitch at which the strings
are found to be resting after the second chipping.
with new ideas. Can he overcome these ob-
stacles? Maybe he can. I wish I could feel
that he surely will. If he does there may be a
new era for the piano.
SITE FOR NATIONAL CONSERVATORY
Representative Husted, of New York, Introduces
Bill With That Object in View
A POINT ON EXTRACTING HAMMERS
WASHINGTON, D. C , April 18.—The allocation of
an appropriate site in Washington on which shall
be erected a building for the use of the National
Conservatory of Music of America is sought by
Representative Husted, of New York, in a bill
which he has introduced in Congress.
The measure provides that the Fine Arts Com-
mission shall select the site and set it apart for
the use of the National Conservatory. Such
ground is to be used only as a site for the build-
ings of the conservatory, and any structures
erected thereon are to be first approved by the
Fine Arts Commission.
"Dear Mr. White: If A. R. Bell will take his
alcohol lamp and heat the hammer shank near
the glue joint to be broken and immediately use
the extractor he will find that the shank is sepa-
rated from the butt without difficulty and with
less chance for damage to the parts than the
method of using the extractor without softening
the glue. If some one knows of a better method
than this I will appreciate very much his effort
to enlighten me. Yours truly, Wiley C. Thomas,
Roanoke, Va."
PARAFFIN AT RETAIL
"Dear Mr. White: I happened to notice in The
Music Trade Review of February 11 a request
from C. F. Schweikart for the name of a firm
which sells paraffin oil at a reasonable price. You
have most likely had several answers to this
query, but, not being sure, I will say that the
article may be procured from H. Behlen & Bro.,
10 Christopher street, New York City. The last
I ordered from this firm cost 75 cents a gallon,
but, as it has been a year or more since it was
bought, I cannot say what the price may be.
W. A. Jackman, Newport, R. I."
MANY THANKS, BROTHERS
for the excellent material from your pens which
appears on this page and without which I should
not have been able to make it as interesting as (to
me, at least) it locfks. May I ask you to remem-
ber, one and all, that our family parties are not
complete unless every one of you gets into the
talk circle once in a while? So please wake your-
selves out of that delightful but fatal attack of
Spring fever and send in the products of your in-
spiration. Address everything to William Braid
White, care The Music Trade Review, 373
Fourth avenue, New York, N. Y.
APRIL 22, 1922
PLAN ILLINOIS TRADE ASSOCIATION
SPRINGFIELD, I I I . , April 17.—Plans are under way
for a meeting of the music merchants of the
State in this city on April 24 and 25, to consider
the formation of a State Association of Music
Merchants. This meeting is the result of a re-
cent conclave of central Illinois music men here,
when the initial plans for the fotmation of an
association were discussed.
The Pioneer Hardware & Music Co., of Bur-
lington, Kan., was considerably damaged in a
flood resulting from a cloudburst which recently
inundated part of the business section of the
town.
EMANUEL MOOR
A Description of the Two-bank Keyboard for
the Piano
Last Winter I published in this department an
article going into the invention by Emanuel Moor
of a two-bank keyboard for the piano, and dis-
cussing some of the possibilities therein com-
prehended. It is rather amusing to observe how
many magazines, in and out of the trade, are
now talking learnedly about this new departure,
despite the fact that only those who understand
the technical problems of action making and 'the
equally complex problems of piano playing can
appreciate either the inventor's difficulties or the
measure of success which he has achieved.
Just pausing to remind my readers that the
Moor keyboard consists of two banks placed one
immediately above the other so that the per-
former can reach instantly with one hand from
one to the other, playing on both with the same
hand, and that the upper keyboard plays just one
octave higher than the corresponding key on the
lower one, I direct attention to the quite obvious
fact that the additional leverages required, both
in coupling one board to the other and in trans-
ferring the key-strokes of the upper board to the
lower, must demand additional machinery in the
action, with resulting influence both on the nature
of the touch and on the cost of production. Now,
whether this fact will outweigh the obvious ad-
vantages of a keyboard which enables one to
make otherwise impossible stretches and chord-
manipulations is a question that should at the
present moment interest us all. Personally, I
think that Mr. Moor has two obstacles to over-
come, each of which is very powerful. He will
have to overcome the lethargy of the musical pro-
fession, which will have to learn a new technique
even though the Moor keyboards look just like
the ordinary ones. Then he will have to face the
inertia of the trade, which does not like to mess
THE
F&G
CELEBRATED
F&G
(FELTEN & CUILLEAUME)
IMPORTED
£ m A7//FELTEN g GUILLEAUMEV
<£ * CARLSWERK
W
^fHAMMACHER.SCHLEMMER &Cf
MUSIC WIRE
IN BLACK, RED and GREEN
LABEL BRANDS
IS UNEXCELLED
The " F & G " Blue Label Brand is again being
used by Rudolph C. Koch in the manufacture
off the Reinwarth Covered Bass Strings
For TUNERS and REPAIRERS we have the
convenient one quarter pound clamps
HAMMACHER, SCHLEMMER&CO.
PIANO AND PLAYER HARDWARE, FELTS AND TOOLS
NEW YORK SINCE 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.
12
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OUR TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
(Continued from page 11)
must be careful to see that they are kept strung
on the wire which passes through their eyes
until each is wanted, for to put on a bass string
in the wrong place is disastrous.
After all strings are in place it will be well
to go over the pins with a hammer, gently strik-
ing them down to a firm bed in the wrest-plank
It is then well again to go over them, this time
with the tuning hammer, to see if they turn well
and easily. Loose or sticky pins may be remedied
at this point, either by chalking them or else by
putting in new ones of larger size.
The wire must now be spaced; that is to say,
the three wires in each unison must be brought
together at just the right distance from each
other. It is calculated by scale draughtsmen that
the distance from center string and center string
of two adjacent unisons should average one-half
inch, except at the lowest strings of the treble
and of the bass respectively. A string-spacing
iron is useful and can be made by filing notches
in a broad screw-driver.
Any tape required may now be wound in, and
then the piano should be ready for chipping.
The first chipping is necessarily rough. I have
always gone about it by pulling the middle C up
to C sharp by my tuning fork and then quickly
raising the octave C's up and down in accord
with this. Then I pull up the strings in between
the C's by ear, using the latter simply to check.
The second chipping may be done after the new
strings have been rubbed down (not too vio-
lently) with a cleft stick covered with a bit of
buckskin.
The second chipping should be done quite care-
fully. The pitch may be placed at about half-
way between A-S17 and A-540 and the bearings
should be laid as carefully as possible. Then the
rest of the work may be done just as in tuning,
by octaves up and down. I also recommend
strongly a third chipping, which may be done
after giving the strings a rest of a day. This
should be taken at the pitch at which the strings
are found to be resting after the second chipping.
with new ideas. Can he overcome these ob-
stacles? Maybe he can. I wish I could feel
that he surely will. If he does there may be a
new era for the piano.
SITE FOR NATIONAL CONSERVATORY
Representative Husted, of New York, Introduces
Bill With That Object in View
A POINT ON EXTRACTING HAMMERS
WASHINGTON, D. C , April 18.—The allocation of
an appropriate site in Washington on which shall
be erected a building for the use of the National
Conservatory of Music of America is sought by
Representative Husted, of New York, in a bill
which he has introduced in Congress.
The measure provides that the Fine Arts Com-
mission shall select the site and set it apart for
the use of the National Conservatory. Such
ground is to be used only as a site for the build-
ings of the conservatory, and any structures
erected thereon are to be first approved by the
Fine Arts Commission.
"Dear Mr. White: If A. R. Bell will take his
alcohol lamp and heat the hammer shank near
the glue joint to be broken and immediately use
the extractor he will find that the shank is sepa-
rated from the butt without difficulty and with
less chance for damage to the parts than the
method of using the extractor without softening
the glue. If some one knows of a better method
than this I will appreciate very much his effort
to enlighten me. Yours truly, Wiley C. Thomas,
Roanoke, Va."
PARAFFIN AT RETAIL
"Dear Mr. White: I happened to notice in The
Music Trade Review of February 11 a request
from C. F. Schweikart for the name of a firm
which sells paraffin oil at a reasonable price. You
have most likely had several answers to this
query, but, not being sure, I will say that the
article may be procured from H. Behlen & Bro.,
10 Christopher street, New York City. The last
I ordered from this firm cost 75 cents a gallon,
but, as it has been a year or more since it was
bought, I cannot say what the price may be.
W. A. Jackman, Newport, R. I."
MANY THANKS, BROTHERS
for the excellent material from your pens which
appears on this page and without which I should
not have been able to make it as interesting as (to
me, at least) it locfks. May I ask you to remem-
ber, one and all, that our family parties are not
complete unless every one of you gets into the
talk circle once in a while? So please wake your-
selves out of that delightful but fatal attack of
Spring fever and send in the products of your in-
spiration. Address everything to William Braid
White, care The Music Trade Review, 373
Fourth avenue, New York, N. Y.
APRIL 22, 1922
PLAN ILLINOIS TRADE ASSOCIATION
SPRINGFIELD, I I I . , April 17.—Plans are under way
for a meeting of the music merchants of the
State in this city on April 24 and 25, to consider
the formation of a State Association of Music
Merchants. This meeting is the result of a re-
cent conclave of central Illinois music men here,
when the initial plans for the fotmation of an
association were discussed.
The Pioneer Hardware & Music Co., of Bur-
lington, Kan., was considerably damaged in a
flood resulting from a cloudburst which recently
inundated part of the business section of the
town.
EMANUEL MOOR
A Description of the Two-bank Keyboard for
the Piano
Last Winter I published in this department an
article going into the invention by Emanuel Moor
of a two-bank keyboard for the piano, and dis-
cussing some of the possibilities therein com-
prehended. It is rather amusing to observe how
many magazines, in and out of the trade, are
now talking learnedly about this new departure,
despite the fact that only those who understand
the technical problems of action making and 'the
equally complex problems of piano playing can
appreciate either the inventor's difficulties or the
measure of success which he has achieved.
Just pausing to remind my readers that the
Moor keyboard consists of two banks placed one
immediately above the other so that the per-
former can reach instantly with one hand from
one to the other, playing on both with the same
hand, and that the upper keyboard plays just one
octave higher than the corresponding key on the
lower one, I direct attention to the quite obvious
fact that the additional leverages required, both
in coupling one board to the other and in trans-
ferring the key-strokes of the upper board to the
lower, must demand additional machinery in the
action, with resulting influence both on the nature
of the touch and on the cost of production. Now,
whether this fact will outweigh the obvious ad-
vantages of a keyboard which enables one to
make otherwise impossible stretches and chord-
manipulations is a question that should at the
present moment interest us all. Personally, I
think that Mr. Moor has two obstacles to over-
come, each of which is very powerful. He will
have to overcome the lethargy of the musical pro-
fession, which will have to learn a new technique
even though the Moor keyboards look just like
the ordinary ones. Then he will have to face the
inertia of the trade, which does not like to mess
THE
F&G
CELEBRATED
F&G
(FELTEN & CUILLEAUME)
IMPORTED
£ m A7//FELTEN g GUILLEAUMEV
<£ * CARLSWERK
W
^fHAMMACHER.SCHLEMMER &Cf
MUSIC WIRE
IN BLACK, RED and GREEN
LABEL BRANDS
IS UNEXCELLED
The " F & G " Blue Label Brand is again being
used by Rudolph C. Koch in the manufacture
off the Reinwarth Covered Bass Strings
For TUNERS and REPAIRERS we have the
convenient one quarter pound clamps
HAMMACHER, SCHLEMMER&CO.
PIANO AND PLAYER HARDWARE, FELTS AND TOOLS
NEW YORK SINCE 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).