Music Trade Review
Issue: 1923 Vol. 77 N. 19 - Page 13
NOVEMBER
.
THE
10, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
13
.,.
\,\ ,
.......
...
THE BASS STRINGS OF THE PIANO AND
THE DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF THEIR TUNING
Few Tuners Can Tune the Bass Region as Well as They Can Two or Three Octaves Above I t
Problem Is Reconciling Physical Peculiarities of the Wire With Acoustic Requirements
of the Scale-Form of the Bass String Vibration-Methods for Tuning Bass
,
.
.,
::
~
.. "
-,
...
No par t or element of the art of tuning is
less skillfull y practiced by even good tuners than
that w hi ch has it s field wit hi n the region of
the bass stri ngs. It is as ha rd to find a pian o
tuner able Lo tune the ba ss r egion as well as
he tun es the t wo or three octaves above it a~
it is to di scover a piano with a scale capa bl e
of producing bass tone~ of purity and in tegrit y
equal to all req ui rements of mus ica l exp re ssion.
I n a word, it is very easy to fin d those who can
tune bass strings pretty well, and as easy to find
pia no s with "pret t y good" bass regions; but it
is extremely hard to fl11u ei ther a ma n or an
in st rument of superlative exce llen ce in this SI)('
cia l respect.
The statement as to th e instrument is in it
seH a n exp la nati on; for it is the condit ion of
the piano which in most case s leads th e t un er
into bad practices, or even prevents him al
together from do in g any sort of good tuni ng.
To test this ~tateme nt it is o n ly necessary to
make a ca refu l stud y of the tones produced
by pianos of high g rade throughout their bass
regions. It will ge ner ally be found that certain
evils ex ist in almost every in divi du a l instru-
....
Specialists in
Piano Key Repairing
Nearly twenty years of success
..... '~
as recoverers and repairers of
piano keys is one guarantee our
customers have that our work
...
will give absolute satisfaction.
--'
Another is family pride.
.:.
W rite for prices.
You will find
them satisfactory, too.
JOS. ZIEGLER & SONS
General Key Repairing
Monroeville, O.
;;
HA.RLEM PIA.NO & ORGAN KEY CO.
IVOIlY AND PORCELAIN CEMENT
FOR PIANO KEYS
Thi. i. a fine white ivory cold glue.
We have .pent IS yean perfecting it.
Parcel POlt paid anywhere in U. S. for $1.
121-123 East 126tb Street
New York. N. Y.
.
:;.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Pi••• T1IIIiac, Pipe ..d Reed Ore..
ODd Playor Pi..... Year Book Preo.
r
27 -29 Gaia.boro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
~
,/
--
./
ment, which evi ls render very difficult the
tuner's task and are, in fact , almost insuperable
by men who are not of th e first order. It will
be worth con~ider in g for a mo m ent t he co ndi
lion of the ha ss region as we find it in mos t
pianos in order that we may see what, if an y
thing, the tuner can do to ove rc ome them and
to tun e those regions correctly.
There is, of cour~e, a great deal to be said
on both s ides of the question. It is not a ll the
m ak er's faul t that bass regions are commonly
unmusical and often untu nabl e, but that a good
de a l. of improvem<>nt is possi bl e cannot, I think,
be successfully deni ed.
The Problem Stated
The problelll of produ cing tone from the bass
re gions of the piano is essentially a problem of
reconciling the physical peculiarities of the wire
with the ac ou st ical requirements of the scale
The bass st rings are requ ired to vib rate rela
tively slowly, even the highest of them, while
the lowest in the region hover upon the verge
of the lower audib le li m it. Now steel wire is
at its be st wh en it is vibrating more than one
hundred tim es per second. At any low er fre··
que ncy troubles of a il sorts begin. If the ten
sion is much slackened the wire becomes u nfi t
to produce p~riodic vibrations. The weight of
the wire mus t therefore be increased, which can
only be done by loading the steel with a wrap
ping. Th e effect of loading is, of co urs e, to slov.
up the vibratory rate, but only at the cost of the
essential power of vibrating po w erf ully at its
whole leng th. That is to say, the morc we load
sleel wire a nd thus artificially slo w up its pe
riod the l es~ we can control its vibrational
forms,. whi ch tend always to take on all sorts
of un expected shapes, producing tone, in which
the due rel a tion of pr ime and upper partial is
ahva ys disturbed and often even subverted.
Weight, Length and Tension
There is a cer tain point of relation between
weight an d length , and another between leng th
a nd tension. If the balance is di st urbed evil
resu lts will follow, owing' to the protuberance
of some factor wh ich ought to be kep t in th e
background. Th e lo wes t bass strings vibrate at
frequen cies near to the lo wer limit of audible
sound; so that, when th ey ar e str et ched at a
tension sufficient to enable them to produce any
tone at all th ey must be weighted wi th an
amount of wrapping wire which a lmo st entirely
crushes their power to vibrate in their whole
TUNERS
len gth. If we listen carefully to the sound of
the lo west ba ss strin gs we shall find that they
show very little trace of the fundamenta l or
pitch-determining element in their complex of
vibratory form s. If we tak e a tuning fork
capable of vibrati ng no more th an twenty-seven
times a second (whi ch is equiv al ent to the pitch
of the lowest bass so und (A-2) on the piano)
we shall find that it gives a so und on ly ba rely
above the limit of au dib ility. It will be a very
low drone not to bc heard three feet awa y.
Compa ring this with the full and even strident
sound of the pi ano stnng, we have to concl ud e
(1) that the sound board has a great d ea l to d o
"vit h the final result in th e piano, and (2) that if
it were a · qu estion of the fundamental tone
only, the piano string woul d be ve ry little bet
ter, as to volume of sound, than the tuning
fork.
The sound board has, indeed, much to do with
the cas e, but tun ing forks, too, can be placed
upon r esonating boxes which greatly amp lify
their capac it y; yet, in this cas e even a resonato r
does not bridge the diffe rence we have noted.
Th e pia no string gives a different kind of a
tone altogether. How different it is can be
judged by aural comparison, when the piano
string is struck with just sufficie nt power to
thr ow it into vibration. The difference in qua l
ity will at once be noted, eve n at eq ual in
tensities.
Forms of Bass String V ibration
This difference arises from t he fact that the
bas s string, artifi cially weighted as it is,
vib ra tes after a fas hion peculiar to itself. The
heavier It is the less is it able to take up that
form of vib ratory motion which is best cal
culated to produce aestheticall} satisfactory
musical sounds. Such a form comprises a pow
erful and do mi na ting w hole-length vi bration of
the wire, with a secondarily powerful and defi
nitely audible second partial, with other upper
partials in smaller amplitudes and of l e~ser
effe ct. The best sp ecime ns of piano to ne which
have thu s far be en analyzed show t hat the fir st
and second partials are alw ays the most po"",,
(Continued 0'11 page 14)
How 10 Repair Damage
10 Varnished Surfaces
& big 88,Vlng in
time. lahar and money on all your reoair
and touch·UD work.
It tells how to fi.%
ohecked varnish. how to remove imprints and
repair mars and scratches or every kind.
It e.J:plains how you can etrect
FREE
"How to RepaIr Damnge to Varnished SUr
faces" contains much valua.ble informa.tion.
It will Interest any ohonograph or piano
dealer. tuner. r ep air man Or finish er. Write
for your (ree copy toda.y,
WRITE TODAY
It you are too busy to write a letter. vin tbls
a.d to your ca.rd or letterhea.d and m&ll to us.
You will receive a copy by retum m&ll.
THE M. L. CAMPBELL CO.
2328 Penn Sireet
Established 1901
Here are
'BASS STRINGS
.PMlal attentl•• livell t. UIII INCI_ .1 till tun• •Id tlle d ••ler
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
2110 Falrmount Avenue
PbJladelpbla. Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
P ....,. ..... T
Kansas City. Mo.
POLK TUNING SCHOOL
Pioneer school of piano, player·piano and Rep roducinl:
Piano tuning and repairing in the United States.
Complete Courses Taught In Seven to Ten Weeks
Write for terms and literature
POLK BUILDING
VALPARAISO, IND.
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Description
S.na
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Labor Saving: Mouse Prell: IUaralltMCf a" t ... leftlltll
&end for 8am,les.
Prt. . . . 1 BeeuHt
Fdt. and Clot'" In a1lll Q.,an/ilia
GEO. . W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
f!I
for New Pricea
II 0
N... aU'1e an I.ath.. lmdl. _
Braunsdorl·. Other Specialties
Paper,
FeU
&ad
Clotb
PaJIle.b1B••, nlwe W . . . . . .
aad Brt..... for
PlaDG8, Or...... .ad
PlaT.... &e&l_.
- .... .... k. 5_......
OMe. ....
~:
!RA!E MABJ\
.
THE
10, 1923
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
13
.,.
\,\ ,
.......
...
THE BASS STRINGS OF THE PIANO AND
THE DIFFICULT PROBLEM OF THEIR TUNING
Few Tuners Can Tune the Bass Region as Well as They Can Two or Three Octaves Above I t
Problem Is Reconciling Physical Peculiarities of the Wire With Acoustic Requirements
of the Scale-Form of the Bass String Vibration-Methods for Tuning Bass
,
.
.,
::
~
.. "
-,
...
No par t or element of the art of tuning is
less skillfull y practiced by even good tuners than
that w hi ch has it s field wit hi n the region of
the bass stri ngs. It is as ha rd to find a pian o
tuner able Lo tune the ba ss r egion as well as
he tun es the t wo or three octaves above it a~
it is to di scover a piano with a scale capa bl e
of producing bass tone~ of purity and in tegrit y
equal to all req ui rements of mus ica l exp re ssion.
I n a word, it is very easy to fin d those who can
tune bass strings pretty well, and as easy to find
pia no s with "pret t y good" bass regions; but it
is extremely hard to fl11u ei ther a ma n or an
in st rument of superlative exce llen ce in this SI)('
cia l respect.
The statement as to th e instrument is in it
seH a n exp la nati on; for it is the condit ion of
the piano which in most case s leads th e t un er
into bad practices, or even prevents him al
together from do in g any sort of good tuni ng.
To test this ~tateme nt it is o n ly necessary to
make a ca refu l stud y of the tones produced
by pianos of high g rade throughout their bass
regions. It will ge ner ally be found that certain
evils ex ist in almost every in divi du a l instru-
....
Specialists in
Piano Key Repairing
Nearly twenty years of success
..... '~
as recoverers and repairers of
piano keys is one guarantee our
customers have that our work
...
will give absolute satisfaction.
--'
Another is family pride.
.:.
W rite for prices.
You will find
them satisfactory, too.
JOS. ZIEGLER & SONS
General Key Repairing
Monroeville, O.
;;
HA.RLEM PIA.NO & ORGAN KEY CO.
IVOIlY AND PORCELAIN CEMENT
FOR PIANO KEYS
Thi. i. a fine white ivory cold glue.
We have .pent IS yean perfecting it.
Parcel POlt paid anywhere in U. S. for $1.
121-123 East 126tb Street
New York. N. Y.
.
:;.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Pi••• T1IIIiac, Pipe ..d Reed Ore..
ODd Playor Pi..... Year Book Preo.
r
27 -29 Gaia.boro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
~
,/
--
./
ment, which evi ls render very difficult the
tuner's task and are, in fact , almost insuperable
by men who are not of th e first order. It will
be worth con~ider in g for a mo m ent t he co ndi
lion of the ha ss region as we find it in mos t
pianos in order that we may see what, if an y
thing, the tuner can do to ove rc ome them and
to tun e those regions correctly.
There is, of cour~e, a great deal to be said
on both s ides of the question. It is not a ll the
m ak er's faul t that bass regions are commonly
unmusical and often untu nabl e, but that a good
de a l. of improvem<>nt is possi bl e cannot, I think,
be successfully deni ed.
The Problem Stated
The problelll of produ cing tone from the bass
re gions of the piano is essentially a problem of
reconciling the physical peculiarities of the wire
with the ac ou st ical requirements of the scale
The bass st rings are requ ired to vib rate rela
tively slowly, even the highest of them, while
the lowest in the region hover upon the verge
of the lower audib le li m it. Now steel wire is
at its be st wh en it is vibrating more than one
hundred tim es per second. At any low er fre··
que ncy troubles of a il sorts begin. If the ten
sion is much slackened the wire becomes u nfi t
to produce p~riodic vibrations. The weight of
the wire mus t therefore be increased, which can
only be done by loading the steel with a wrap
ping. Th e effect of loading is, of co urs e, to slov.
up the vibratory rate, but only at the cost of the
essential power of vibrating po w erf ully at its
whole leng th. That is to say, the morc we load
sleel wire a nd thus artificially slo w up its pe
riod the l es~ we can control its vibrational
forms,. whi ch tend always to take on all sorts
of un expected shapes, producing tone, in which
the due rel a tion of pr ime and upper partial is
ahva ys disturbed and often even subverted.
Weight, Length and Tension
There is a cer tain point of relation between
weight an d length , and another between leng th
a nd tension. If the balance is di st urbed evil
resu lts will follow, owing' to the protuberance
of some factor wh ich ought to be kep t in th e
background. Th e lo wes t bass strings vibrate at
frequen cies near to the lo wer limit of audible
sound; so that, when th ey ar e str et ched at a
tension sufficient to enable them to produce any
tone at all th ey must be weighted wi th an
amount of wrapping wire which a lmo st entirely
crushes their power to vibrate in their whole
TUNERS
len gth. If we listen carefully to the sound of
the lo west ba ss strin gs we shall find that they
show very little trace of the fundamenta l or
pitch-determining element in their complex of
vibratory form s. If we tak e a tuning fork
capable of vibrati ng no more th an twenty-seven
times a second (whi ch is equiv al ent to the pitch
of the lowest bass so und (A-2) on the piano)
we shall find that it gives a so und on ly ba rely
above the limit of au dib ility. It will be a very
low drone not to bc heard three feet awa y.
Compa ring this with the full and even strident
sound of the pi ano stnng, we have to concl ud e
(1) that the sound board has a great d ea l to d o
"vit h the final result in th e piano, and (2) that if
it were a · qu estion of the fundamental tone
only, the piano string woul d be ve ry little bet
ter, as to volume of sound, than the tuning
fork.
The sound board has, indeed, much to do with
the cas e, but tun ing forks, too, can be placed
upon r esonating boxes which greatly amp lify
their capac it y; yet, in this cas e even a resonato r
does not bridge the diffe rence we have noted.
Th e pia no string gives a different kind of a
tone altogether. How different it is can be
judged by aural comparison, when the piano
string is struck with just sufficie nt power to
thr ow it into vibration. The difference in qua l
ity will at once be noted, eve n at eq ual in
tensities.
Forms of Bass String V ibration
This difference arises from t he fact that the
bas s string, artifi cially weighted as it is,
vib ra tes after a fas hion peculiar to itself. The
heavier It is the less is it able to take up that
form of vib ratory motion which is best cal
culated to produce aestheticall} satisfactory
musical sounds. Such a form comprises a pow
erful and do mi na ting w hole-length vi bration of
the wire, with a secondarily powerful and defi
nitely audible second partial, with other upper
partials in smaller amplitudes and of l e~ser
effe ct. The best sp ecime ns of piano to ne which
have thu s far be en analyzed show t hat the fir st
and second partials are alw ays the most po"",,
(Continued 0'11 page 14)
How 10 Repair Damage
10 Varnished Surfaces
& big 88,Vlng in
time. lahar and money on all your reoair
and touch·UD work.
It tells how to fi.%
ohecked varnish. how to remove imprints and
repair mars and scratches or every kind.
It e.J:plains how you can etrect
FREE
"How to RepaIr Damnge to Varnished SUr
faces" contains much valua.ble informa.tion.
It will Interest any ohonograph or piano
dealer. tuner. r ep air man Or finish er. Write
for your (ree copy toda.y,
WRITE TODAY
It you are too busy to write a letter. vin tbls
a.d to your ca.rd or letterhea.d and m&ll to us.
You will receive a copy by retum m&ll.
THE M. L. CAMPBELL CO.
2328 Penn Sireet
Established 1901
Here are
'BASS STRINGS
.PMlal attentl•• livell t. UIII INCI_ .1 till tun• •Id tlle d ••ler
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
2110 Falrmount Avenue
PbJladelpbla. Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
P ....,. ..... T
Kansas City. Mo.
POLK TUNING SCHOOL
Pioneer school of piano, player·piano and Rep roducinl:
Piano tuning and repairing in the United States.
Complete Courses Taught In Seven to Ten Weeks
Write for terms and literature
POLK BUILDING
VALPARAISO, IND.
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Description
S.na
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Labor Saving: Mouse Prell: IUaralltMCf a" t ... leftlltll
&end for 8am,les.
Prt. . . . 1 BeeuHt
Fdt. and Clot'" In a1lll Q.,an/ilia
GEO. . W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
f!I
for New Pricea
II 0
N... aU'1e an I.ath.. lmdl. _
Braunsdorl·. Other Specialties
Paper,
FeU
&ad
Clotb
PaJIle.b1B••, nlwe W . . . . . .
aad Brt..... for
PlaDG8, Or...... .ad
PlaT.... &e&l_.
- .... .... k. 5_......
OMe. ....
~:
!RA!E MABJ\
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).