Music Trade Review
Issue: 1932 Vol. 91 N. 7 - Page 15
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
PIANO FACTORY and
PIANO SERVICING
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor
Teaching the Pianist
to Know the Piano
The first job was to pull out the action and
thoroughly vacuum clean (with an Electro-
lux which is unusually convenient for work
of this kind) the action, keys, key bed,
strings, plate and soundboard, so far as these
could all be reached. Then I took a look at
the action and found (1) hammer stems
right down on the cushions, (2) hammer
heads almost flat and very deeply indented
throughout nearly the whole range, (3) keys
tight on the balance-rail pins and loose on
the front-rail pins, (4) a lot of other mis-
A PIANIST'S PIANO
cellaneous horrors.
In opening this month I should like to deal
Immediately I removed the action from the
first with an interesting and instructive mat- key frame, tacked a wooden strip across the
ter which came up before me a short time backs of the keys behind the back checks,
ago. A musician friend, one in fact whose lined up the keys on the balance rail,
pianistic talents have given her an interna- straightened a lot of balance-rail pins that
tional reputation, has taken a new house to were crooked and bent, opened up a few bal-
live in, and has been occupied in putting into ance-rail mortises that were really too tight,
shape a large room as workshop and studio. turned some front-rail pins where there was
In this room she has placed a very fine too much play, and roughened with a file
Mason & Hamlin grand of the size just be- the leather of the back checks.
low the BB. This instrument has been out of
Then, still keeping the action away from
her hands and on loan with friends for the the keys, I filed the hammers in the follow-
last two or three years. Going up to her ing manner: First with a rough No. 1J-4
place one day recently for a talk and to see sandpaper I filed upwards towards the center
the new arrangements, I ran my fingers over each hammer on one side from bass to treble.
the Mason & Hamlin and discovered not only
(Please turn to page 16)
that it needed tuning (to the man who has
once acquired the tuner's art, all pianos are
always out of tune), but also that there was
something all wrong with the touch and
with the tone, too. So I said, "What on earth
is the matter with your piano?" And the
answer came, "That is what I am trying to
find out. See, the touch is all wrong, it has
are far more
no depth, and I cannot get repetition or
than
merely
elasticity out of the keys. Besides, when I use
good p l a t e s .
the soft pedal the tone quality changes and
They are built
correctly of the
becomes twangy, and the hammer strokes
best material and finish and are spe-
seem to be all wrong." "Well," said I, "let
cified by builders of quality pianos.
me play around with it a bit and see what
I can do with it. Your piano is nice enough
American Piano Plate Co.
to tempt one into trying one's skill on it.
I'm sure it will respond—as all fine instru-
Manufacturers BADGER BRAND Grand
ments always do."
and Upright Piano Plates
Racine, Wisconsin
So, at any rate, I carted around some tools
a few days later and sat down to the thing.
against standing in tune. Lastly I have had
further correspondence with Mr. Stokes, the
able and efficient secretary of the Pianoforte
Tuners' Association of Great Britain, who
has furnished me with additional and very
interesting information as to the present and
future of the profession in England-
So, all in all, what with reading and an-
swering all these letters and doing some work
on soundboard research, heart-beat sound
photographing and so on, I have been busy.
DR. WM. BRAID WHITE
HE Summer vacation has given me a
good many things to think about and a
good many things to do. Much has hap-
pened since I last addressed my readers. The
general trend of business has seemed to be
improving. The N.A.P.T. has had its annual
convention and has honored itself by electing
once more to its presidency one of the ablest
of all who have served it.
Ubert Urquhart, one of the most skilled
and intelligent practitioners of the art in
that New York which possesses more of such
talent than does any other city in the land,
has communicated to me a new and inten-
sively interesting proposal for obtaining an
approximate equal temperament by methods
which do not involve the counting of beats.
F. W. Kringel, the Californian veteran, has
acquainted me with his invention of an im-
proved method of constructing the tuning pin
plate and of inserting the tuning pins, a
method calculated to prevent that bending,
slipping or giving of the pins under the
strain of playing which at present operates
T
The
Piano-Moth~e X
Method
Quickly—Positively doubles tuners' incomes.
Dealers—Tuners, write
THE 8CHALL LABOBATOBIKS
Madison Avenue
LaCrosse, Wis.
Service
Price
For
Quality
Reliability
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
BADGER BRAND
PLATES
Continuous Hinges
Grand Hinges
IN Pedals and Rods
Bearing Bars
Casters, etc., etc.
REVIEW,
CHAS. RAMSEY CORP.
August-September, 1932
KINGSTON, N. Y.
15
PIANO FACTORY and
PIANO SERVICING
DR. W M . BRAID WHITE
Technical Editor
Teaching the Pianist
to Know the Piano
The first job was to pull out the action and
thoroughly vacuum clean (with an Electro-
lux which is unusually convenient for work
of this kind) the action, keys, key bed,
strings, plate and soundboard, so far as these
could all be reached. Then I took a look at
the action and found (1) hammer stems
right down on the cushions, (2) hammer
heads almost flat and very deeply indented
throughout nearly the whole range, (3) keys
tight on the balance-rail pins and loose on
the front-rail pins, (4) a lot of other mis-
A PIANIST'S PIANO
cellaneous horrors.
In opening this month I should like to deal
Immediately I removed the action from the
first with an interesting and instructive mat- key frame, tacked a wooden strip across the
ter which came up before me a short time backs of the keys behind the back checks,
ago. A musician friend, one in fact whose lined up the keys on the balance rail,
pianistic talents have given her an interna- straightened a lot of balance-rail pins that
tional reputation, has taken a new house to were crooked and bent, opened up a few bal-
live in, and has been occupied in putting into ance-rail mortises that were really too tight,
shape a large room as workshop and studio. turned some front-rail pins where there was
In this room she has placed a very fine too much play, and roughened with a file
Mason & Hamlin grand of the size just be- the leather of the back checks.
low the BB. This instrument has been out of
Then, still keeping the action away from
her hands and on loan with friends for the the keys, I filed the hammers in the follow-
last two or three years. Going up to her ing manner: First with a rough No. 1J-4
place one day recently for a talk and to see sandpaper I filed upwards towards the center
the new arrangements, I ran my fingers over each hammer on one side from bass to treble.
the Mason & Hamlin and discovered not only
(Please turn to page 16)
that it needed tuning (to the man who has
once acquired the tuner's art, all pianos are
always out of tune), but also that there was
something all wrong with the touch and
with the tone, too. So I said, "What on earth
is the matter with your piano?" And the
answer came, "That is what I am trying to
find out. See, the touch is all wrong, it has
are far more
no depth, and I cannot get repetition or
than
merely
elasticity out of the keys. Besides, when I use
good p l a t e s .
the soft pedal the tone quality changes and
They are built
correctly of the
becomes twangy, and the hammer strokes
best material and finish and are spe-
seem to be all wrong." "Well," said I, "let
cified by builders of quality pianos.
me play around with it a bit and see what
I can do with it. Your piano is nice enough
American Piano Plate Co.
to tempt one into trying one's skill on it.
I'm sure it will respond—as all fine instru-
Manufacturers BADGER BRAND Grand
ments always do."
and Upright Piano Plates
Racine, Wisconsin
So, at any rate, I carted around some tools
a few days later and sat down to the thing.
against standing in tune. Lastly I have had
further correspondence with Mr. Stokes, the
able and efficient secretary of the Pianoforte
Tuners' Association of Great Britain, who
has furnished me with additional and very
interesting information as to the present and
future of the profession in England-
So, all in all, what with reading and an-
swering all these letters and doing some work
on soundboard research, heart-beat sound
photographing and so on, I have been busy.
DR. WM. BRAID WHITE
HE Summer vacation has given me a
good many things to think about and a
good many things to do. Much has hap-
pened since I last addressed my readers. The
general trend of business has seemed to be
improving. The N.A.P.T. has had its annual
convention and has honored itself by electing
once more to its presidency one of the ablest
of all who have served it.
Ubert Urquhart, one of the most skilled
and intelligent practitioners of the art in
that New York which possesses more of such
talent than does any other city in the land,
has communicated to me a new and inten-
sively interesting proposal for obtaining an
approximate equal temperament by methods
which do not involve the counting of beats.
F. W. Kringel, the Californian veteran, has
acquainted me with his invention of an im-
proved method of constructing the tuning pin
plate and of inserting the tuning pins, a
method calculated to prevent that bending,
slipping or giving of the pins under the
strain of playing which at present operates
T
The
Piano-Moth~e X
Method
Quickly—Positively doubles tuners' incomes.
Dealers—Tuners, write
THE 8CHALL LABOBATOBIKS
Madison Avenue
LaCrosse, Wis.
Service
Price
For
Quality
Reliability
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
BADGER BRAND
PLATES
Continuous Hinges
Grand Hinges
IN Pedals and Rods
Bearing Bars
Casters, etc., etc.
REVIEW,
CHAS. RAMSEY CORP.
August-September, 1932
KINGSTON, N. Y.
15
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