Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum The Virzi Tone Producer...our prayers are answered.

Greetings all,
Though I have been fixing pianos for about 25 years now, I am new to the piano forums and this is my first post. I'm sure I'll weigh in on topics with my own unique perspective, but I thought a yuk would be a good way to introduce myself. So...

The Verzi Tone Producer!

We found this gem in a 1920's era thin case upright. I cannot remember the brand. It was mounted on the back of the board behind the beams, which I recall being very thin front to back. They seem to have thinned the beams in order to make room for this. Not the greatest engineering trade-off I've ever seen.
A luthier friend of mine said that such devises were sometimes included in the making of mandolins. A patent search showed it being used inside violins, but nothing about its employment in pianos.
Has anyone else seen one of these? Or know anything about the Verzi concept?

[img:left]https://picasaweb.google.com/105412...Gv1sRgCOqPlZf5_rm9RQ#5615482489585209090[/img]
[img:left]https://picasaweb.google.com/105412...Gv1sRgCOqPlZf5_rm9RQ#5615482581232830354[/img]
[img:left]https://picasaweb.google.com/105412...Gv1sRgCOqPlZf5_rm9RQ#5615482641437890322[/img]
[img:left]https://picasaweb.google.com/105412...Gv1sRgCOqPlZf5_rm9RQ#5615482724690921538[/img]

Did you see these threads on the Mandolin Cafe site? (You must type the verification words to see the list of threads.) Apparently these are well known.

Does it attach to the sound board through dowels\pegs?

Never seen anything like that before!

I think it is really cool.

Fascinating! Since it's removable, does the piano sound differently with it attached?

Of course it's removable. That's how you take the lovely sound of the piano with you wherever you go!

Although the Virzi Tone Producer was patented, no claims were made in the patent that attribute changes or amplification to the tone itself. Originally designed for small stringed instruments the Virzi brothers expanded the line to include other stringed instruments and eventually the piano. In theory the addition of this device will rob the soundboard of energy and not add to it. It was claimed by several prominent violinists that the Tone Producer increased the number of higher partials heard by the human ear and did impart an overall warmer tone. This claim may have some basis since soundboards secured by the rim produce different characteristics of tone as opposed to soundbaords(tone plates) secured from along a center line. More can be read on its particulars and history here...

http://www.siminoff.net/pages/virzi.htm

Forgot to post the link to the many threads from the Mandolin Cafe site:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1282012

You may have to type verification words near the bottom to read these threads.

Years ago I had a customer who had an old Hadorff console. The patent on this was a "dual soundboard." There were wooden dowels glued to the soundboard perpendicular to it on the inside, positioned so that, when you closed the kick panel, the dowels from the soundboard contacted the panel. The idea was that vibrations would travel through the dowels to the panel, using it as an additional "soundboard."

Did it make a difference in the sound, insofar as you could tell?

I don't remember it striking me as sounding any different than any other console!

Thanks for the tip about the Mandolin cafe. I was a little shocked. They have legends, traditions, detractors and devotees of the Virzi Tone Producer. I would never have imagined. After the cafe I did a little deeper search and it seems they were put into Schubert pianos, though I cannot remember this to be true. The piano is long past firewood.

It attatches to the sound board by screws passing through the feet, from the face, into the underside of the bridge. The face of the virzt has sb buttons, some are thinned to make clearance behind a beam. It seems to be a part of the virzi concept that the feet have upper wings that are glued to the bottom of the pannel across the f-holes. I see it on this and the in the picture of those from mandolins. This makes little sense to me.
It seems that these things started out in violins, were transferred to mandolins, and evenually tried in pianos.
I find this interesting. It bolsters my suspician that the piano has evolved not only because inspiration strikes a special few, but because pianomen will try anything. Others learn through the point and laugh method. I thought I had a piece of random piano hokum. I now see that I have a very special piece of piano hokum, and I will look at it with more respect. I suspect that its greatest value is the artwork in the label.

Thankyou for all your responses.
Craig

I myself prefer Asti Spumante with a twist of Mountain Laurel. Then again, I'm a wheel. Weeeeeee.......weeeeeeee......etc. etc.