Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum wooden frame vs metal plate

'The metal plate (Fig. 29) brought improved tuning stability and, at least to most modern ears, better tone.' from: http://www.speech.kth.se/music/5_lectures/conklin/thecastiron.html

Is he hinting at the elephant in the room? that tone was sacrificed for power? How would a Stradivarius violin sound with the addition of a metal plate? and last question - Why is no one making wooden framed pianos anymore (apart from replicas)?

Thank you for posting these lectures. Regarding the series in question: The Cristofori is more link than it is piano. Other comparisons would be more realistic.

Yes you're right. My newest wooden frame (upright 1892) has modern trichords down to the tenor. I'll have to check the string thickness.

correction: it's trichord (.8mm) down to F above middle C and then bichord (1.0mm) to B (second line on bass clef). Also, of course, it's missing an octave so less tension there.

So, maybe it's as tense as a wooden frame could reasonably get. It has a tone you just couldn't get from a steel frame though less power. And yes, it requires more tuning but then no one complains about tuning a Strad so many times a day!