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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 951
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Posts: 951 |
Friends, friends, friends:
DO let's get this right about the length of organ pipes:
8ft, 16ft, 32ft and 64ft.
Although fractional lengths are sometime employed (i.e. a 32 stop made from half-length pipes, but producing the pitch of a full-length pipe), the above designations are the standard.
For our purposes, it is the 32ft C, (CCCC) that, beginning with the Imperial, is our very lowest note.
JSB would have recognised this pitch, but certainly nothing below it.
I've always wished that our largest pianos could go down to the G (GGGG) as there are moments in the repertoire when it is clearly contemplated.
The largest Erard grands used to extend to GGGG.
Just my own opinion and not meant to get up the nose of any forum member.
Karl Watson,
Staten Island, NY
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Joined: Nov 2013
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4000 Post Club Member
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Good point about organ pipe lengths. Few people, outside of trained organists and organ technicians understand the nomenclature of organ pipe scales.
More important though is that pitch is referenced from C and not A as it was misappropriated some time ago by piano tuners trying to match orchestral pitches. This is not a slight at piano tuners, only a recognition that for some reason concerti take precedence over all other music. In a piano trio, the strings can easily adjust their A's to whatever pitch results from tuning Vallotti or Werkmeister based on C.
Keyboard temperaments always have been and should always be referenced to C, just as our knowledge and nomenclature for scales in western music is based on C as the starting reference point for the circle of fifths, especially when tuning non Equal Temperaments.
Diatribe over and back to playing my BB that has a gorgeous low bass.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,188
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
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Posts: 2,188 |
Thanks for the link, Del. What wonderful synergy between the player and instrument, and how they elevate the music! The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
To me, the Opus 102 is a most interesting instrument in its design. Stephen has recombined some very old ideas in new and unique ways. What's older than a single continuous bridge? He has re-imagined the barless plate, he incorporates a bridge agraffe of his own patented design that has no down bearing on the bridge, and the soundboard panel has no ribs. And, of course, the piano uses his own hybrid stringing of wires of differing breaking points.
Del, I have enjoyed your ongoing articles in recent journals about small piano design. You have talked about the end of bridge effect as a problem in all pianos. It strikes me that no such effect is likely to exist in his instrument. From the end of note 1 to the other end at 102, the bridge is continuous. For the "inside 88" there are no bridge ends at all. In tonal effect, he "breaks the breaks" by not having any.
With no ribs, you will not have the discontinuities of impedance that accompany ribbed panels. A rib-less panel is possible because there is no downbearing load.
The hybrid stringing allows him to design a scale of such evenness that is simply not possible by any other means.
Put it all together, and I hear a piano that is the most balanced, congruous, and of a piece that I have ever heard. I can't hear any of the breaks. I think it is a very successful design.
Indeed, BDB, it "a good bass... does depend... on design and setup". It strikes me that there may be reasons for the cross-axis stiffness provided by the ribs irrespective of the downbearing or lack thereof.
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 290
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Full Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 290 |
I'll have more to say about flat-strung pianos in the November issue. And, possibly, December.
ddf
November and December issues of which journal? Also, is flat-strung the same as straight-strung? If so, is it referring to all the strings being in the same plane?
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 5,534
5000 Post Club Member
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5000 Post Club Member
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I'll have more to say about flat-strung pianos in the November issue. And, possibly, December.
ddf
November and December issues of which journal? Also, is flat-strung the same as straight-strung? If so, is it referring to all the strings being in the same plane? The Piano Technician's Journal. It's a trade journal distributed primarily to members of the Piano Technician's Guild. Non-technicians can subscribe but it's expensive. I'll have reprints available to the general public a couple of months after publication. I prefer the term flat-strung to straight-strung. I've never quite understood what is meant by the term straight-strung. Straight as compared to what? All piano strings are straight. At least through their speaking lengths. I've also heard the term parallel-strung used. But that doesn't work well either since not all flat-strung instruments have their strings laid out parallel to one another. Some spread, others converge. Flat-strung at least tells us the strings are in a flat-, as opposed to multi-level configuration. So, until something better comes along.... ddf
Last edited by Del; 09/28/16 03:21 AM. Reason: clarity
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Research, Design & Manufacturing Consultant
ddfandrich@gmail.com
(To contact me privately please use this e-mail address.)
Stupidity is a rare condition, ignorance is a common choice. --Anon
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 290
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Full Member
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I would definitely be interested in reading those articles. Maybe a local university would have a subscription.
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 5,534
5000 Post Club Member
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I would definitely be interested in reading those articles. Maybe a local university would have a subscription. The first article about flat-strung pianos is planned for the November issue. Originally I had intended to do just the one but I'm now planning a second. I can furnish reprints a month after publication. (My author's agreement with the Journal allows me to distribute the articles freely 30 days after publication.) Feel free to contact me by email (see below) sometime in December and I'll send you a PDF of the article. In my opinion the industry should have been developing modern flat-strung pianos long ago. The theoretical advantages of cross-stringing have been long been overstated. We could use some diversity and innovation in our struggling industry. ddf
Last edited by Del; 09/30/16 02:55 AM.
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Research, Design & Manufacturing Consultant
ddfandrich@gmail.com
(To contact me privately please use this e-mail address.)
Stupidity is a rare condition, ignorance is a common choice. --Anon
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