Music Trade Review
Issue: 1926 Vol. 83 N. 9 - Page 40
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
40
The Music Trade Review
AUGUST 28, 1926
The Technical and Supply Department—(Continued from page 39)
mechanical forces subject to definite mechanical vibrating only in the whole length of this string.
Forest Laboratory Is
rules which are capable of mathematical expres-
And that is the significance of high as against
sion. These rules for all practical purposes may low tension. For tone quality is a function of
Studying Drying Schedules
be regarded as constant, so that when we know the partial tone succession. The more partials
all the factors of the constitution of a string, of
the stretching force applied to it, and of the
faces impressed upon it through the hammer, we
may say with complete certainty what the result
obtained from it will be in the wav of sound.
Fixed and Movable Factors
Now, of all the factors which can be consid-
ered as entering into the complex case of the
piano string, only one is fixed. That one is the
equal temperament or division of the octave into
twelve equal parts. Being fixed, it in turn fixes
the basis of calculation for length, since pitch
varies inversely as string length. This length
calculation, however, is subject to certain modi-
fications, owing to the fact that a piano cannot
be designed for strings of unlimited length,
while at the same time it must have strings of
sufficient stiffness to exert suitable resistance to
the blows of the hammers. For this reason the
length calculation is based upon a modified
factor, usually 1 : 1,875 instead of 1 : 2; but the
semitone length relations remain of course ex-
actly as the semitone pitch relations, that is,
they are based upon an equal division of the
length increase throughout each octave.
On the other hand, we can vary the diameter,
and for any given pitch therefor we can vary
the tension. The whole tension question there-
fore is a question of effect. Pitch varies as
square root of tension. But tension also affects
the vibratjonal form. The greater the stretch-
ing force the more the string tends to break up
into segments. Therefore, the higher the ten-
sion at which we stretch our strings for given
pitch, the more these strings will vibrate in har-
monic segments, and the less they will vibrate
in whole lengths. Hence, other things being
equal, a high tension scale is a brilliant scale,
tending at the extreme to hardness, shortness
and twanginess of tone. The characteristics of
a low tension scale are mellowness and round-
ness, tending at the extreme to dullness and
feebleness.
Any one can make a very simple experiment
to support this conclusion as to the effect of
tension on tone quality. One takes a tuning
fork, preferably one mounted on a box, for that
will then stand firmly. To one prong of the
fork one attaches a length of sewing thread, say
twelve inches of No. 60 thread for a small
pocket fork. One uses a bit of wax to fasten
the thread on the fork. Then one fixes the fork
firmly somewhere, sets it in vibration, and
stretches the thread away from its fixed end.
The moment one begins to pull the thread taut
it breaks up into segments. The more one pulls
it the more segments appear. The slacker it is
the fewer segments appear, until one has it
"MARKDOWNS"
ARE UNNECESSARY
EALERS everywhere are finding it
D easy
to repair damage to varnished
surfaces—consequently making big sav-
ings through the elimination of the
necessity for mark-downs. Our little
booklet "How to Repair Damage to
Varnished Surfaces" tells how you, too,
can do this. A copy of this will be
sent to you free upon request.
The M. L. Campbell Co.
1OO1 W. 8th St.
(equivalent to segments into which the string
breaks up) the more brilliant and powerful is
the tone emitted. Moreover, tension affects
duration of sound, and high tension means
longer duration.
Obviously then the first appearance of the case
is all for high tension. In other words, since a
long enduring sound, brilliant and powerful, is
obviously wanted in the modern pianoforte, it
is evident that whatever will give us that' is
what we want.
But what do we mean by high tension? And
what is the dividing line between that and what
is called "low tension"? These are important
questions, but evidently they can only be an-
swered with reference to some fixed point.
This is the elastic limit or the breaking strain
of any given piece of wire under consideration.
We must therefore go to the ascertained physi-
cal facts, in this as in all our argument. Then
we shall know where we stand, and perhaps
shall be able to show, not exactly the one abso-
lutely best tension figure (for that can never be
calculated without knowing all the complex
factors of any case), but the limits within which
one must work to obtain tonal results likely to
be satisfactory to modern ears. If, by examina-
tion of the physical facts, we can find some
ground for satisfactory conclusions on this
point, we shall be doing well. And so, after
another scale drafting article next week, dealing
with more of the technical work paper, we shall
take up again this intensely interesting question.
Correspondence
is solicited, and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review.
Government Institution Experimenting With
Commercial Types of Dry Kilns for Lumber
Drying
MADISON, WIS., August 21.—Studies of commer-
cial types of dry kilns are now in progress in
the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory here,
which is formulating a series of so-called "dry-
ing schedules." The latter term, it is explained,
implies suitable conditions of temperature and
humidity in order to obtain the best results in
drying of commercial woods.
Piano and furniture industries are particularly
interested in certain experiments of the Labora-
tory, the purpose of which is to minimize losses
incident to the steam bending of the stock. In
this connection a machine used in commercial
practice in the steam bending of wood has been
installed at Madison.
The Forest Products Laboratory, under the
direction of Carlyle P. Winslow and a staff of
about 180 persons, has an appropriation of some
$600,000 for its work. It also conducts train-
ing schools covering courses in four subjects—
kiln drying, boxing and crating, gluing of wood,
and wood properties and uses, with tuition fees
ranging from $100 to $150. About sixty-five
firms annually send representatives to Madison
to pursue courses in the gluing of wood, and
more than 200 firms are represented at the
courses in kiln drying.
P. G. Oetting on Trip
Philip G. Oetting, president and treasurer of
Philip W. Oetting & Son, New York, import-
ers of Weickert piano felts, left the city last
week on a short motor trip through northern
New York and the lower section df the Domin-
ion of Canada.
TUNERS
AND
REPAIRERS
Our new catalogue of piano and
Player H a r d w a r e , Felts and
Tools is now ready. If you
haven't received y o u r copy
please let us know.
Kansas City, Mo.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Piano Tnninf, Pipe and Reed 0rt>D
and Player Piano. Year Book Free.
27-29 Gaintboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co.
New York, Since 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.
40
The Music Trade Review
AUGUST 28, 1926
The Technical and Supply Department—(Continued from page 39)
mechanical forces subject to definite mechanical vibrating only in the whole length of this string.
Forest Laboratory Is
rules which are capable of mathematical expres-
And that is the significance of high as against
sion. These rules for all practical purposes may low tension. For tone quality is a function of
Studying Drying Schedules
be regarded as constant, so that when we know the partial tone succession. The more partials
all the factors of the constitution of a string, of
the stretching force applied to it, and of the
faces impressed upon it through the hammer, we
may say with complete certainty what the result
obtained from it will be in the wav of sound.
Fixed and Movable Factors
Now, of all the factors which can be consid-
ered as entering into the complex case of the
piano string, only one is fixed. That one is the
equal temperament or division of the octave into
twelve equal parts. Being fixed, it in turn fixes
the basis of calculation for length, since pitch
varies inversely as string length. This length
calculation, however, is subject to certain modi-
fications, owing to the fact that a piano cannot
be designed for strings of unlimited length,
while at the same time it must have strings of
sufficient stiffness to exert suitable resistance to
the blows of the hammers. For this reason the
length calculation is based upon a modified
factor, usually 1 : 1,875 instead of 1 : 2; but the
semitone length relations remain of course ex-
actly as the semitone pitch relations, that is,
they are based upon an equal division of the
length increase throughout each octave.
On the other hand, we can vary the diameter,
and for any given pitch therefor we can vary
the tension. The whole tension question there-
fore is a question of effect. Pitch varies as
square root of tension. But tension also affects
the vibratjonal form. The greater the stretch-
ing force the more the string tends to break up
into segments. Therefore, the higher the ten-
sion at which we stretch our strings for given
pitch, the more these strings will vibrate in har-
monic segments, and the less they will vibrate
in whole lengths. Hence, other things being
equal, a high tension scale is a brilliant scale,
tending at the extreme to hardness, shortness
and twanginess of tone. The characteristics of
a low tension scale are mellowness and round-
ness, tending at the extreme to dullness and
feebleness.
Any one can make a very simple experiment
to support this conclusion as to the effect of
tension on tone quality. One takes a tuning
fork, preferably one mounted on a box, for that
will then stand firmly. To one prong of the
fork one attaches a length of sewing thread, say
twelve inches of No. 60 thread for a small
pocket fork. One uses a bit of wax to fasten
the thread on the fork. Then one fixes the fork
firmly somewhere, sets it in vibration, and
stretches the thread away from its fixed end.
The moment one begins to pull the thread taut
it breaks up into segments. The more one pulls
it the more segments appear. The slacker it is
the fewer segments appear, until one has it
"MARKDOWNS"
ARE UNNECESSARY
EALERS everywhere are finding it
D easy
to repair damage to varnished
surfaces—consequently making big sav-
ings through the elimination of the
necessity for mark-downs. Our little
booklet "How to Repair Damage to
Varnished Surfaces" tells how you, too,
can do this. A copy of this will be
sent to you free upon request.
The M. L. Campbell Co.
1OO1 W. 8th St.
(equivalent to segments into which the string
breaks up) the more brilliant and powerful is
the tone emitted. Moreover, tension affects
duration of sound, and high tension means
longer duration.
Obviously then the first appearance of the case
is all for high tension. In other words, since a
long enduring sound, brilliant and powerful, is
obviously wanted in the modern pianoforte, it
is evident that whatever will give us that' is
what we want.
But what do we mean by high tension? And
what is the dividing line between that and what
is called "low tension"? These are important
questions, but evidently they can only be an-
swered with reference to some fixed point.
This is the elastic limit or the breaking strain
of any given piece of wire under consideration.
We must therefore go to the ascertained physi-
cal facts, in this as in all our argument. Then
we shall know where we stand, and perhaps
shall be able to show, not exactly the one abso-
lutely best tension figure (for that can never be
calculated without knowing all the complex
factors of any case), but the limits within which
one must work to obtain tonal results likely to
be satisfactory to modern ears. If, by examina-
tion of the physical facts, we can find some
ground for satisfactory conclusions on this
point, we shall be doing well. And so, after
another scale drafting article next week, dealing
with more of the technical work paper, we shall
take up again this intensely interesting question.
Correspondence
is solicited, and should be addressed to William
Braid White, 5149 Agatite avenue, Chicago.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review.
Government Institution Experimenting With
Commercial Types of Dry Kilns for Lumber
Drying
MADISON, WIS., August 21.—Studies of commer-
cial types of dry kilns are now in progress in
the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory here,
which is formulating a series of so-called "dry-
ing schedules." The latter term, it is explained,
implies suitable conditions of temperature and
humidity in order to obtain the best results in
drying of commercial woods.
Piano and furniture industries are particularly
interested in certain experiments of the Labora-
tory, the purpose of which is to minimize losses
incident to the steam bending of the stock. In
this connection a machine used in commercial
practice in the steam bending of wood has been
installed at Madison.
The Forest Products Laboratory, under the
direction of Carlyle P. Winslow and a staff of
about 180 persons, has an appropriation of some
$600,000 for its work. It also conducts train-
ing schools covering courses in four subjects—
kiln drying, boxing and crating, gluing of wood,
and wood properties and uses, with tuition fees
ranging from $100 to $150. About sixty-five
firms annually send representatives to Madison
to pursue courses in the gluing of wood, and
more than 200 firms are represented at the
courses in kiln drying.
P. G. Oetting on Trip
Philip G. Oetting, president and treasurer of
Philip W. Oetting & Son, New York, import-
ers of Weickert piano felts, left the city last
week on a short motor trip through northern
New York and the lower section df the Domin-
ion of Canada.
TUNERS
AND
REPAIRERS
Our new catalogue of piano and
Player H a r d w a r e , Felts and
Tools is now ready. If you
haven't received y o u r copy
please let us know.
Kansas City, Mo.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
Piano Tnninf, Pipe and Reed 0rt>D
and Player Piano. Year Book Free.
27-29 Gaintboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co.
New York, Since 1848
4th Ave. and 13th St.
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