IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO-FORTES.
Sir, - Among the many attempts to improve that most universal of musical instruments, the piano-forte, which have been offered to public notice, none have excited the attention of musical and scientific persons more than the application of equal tension to strings of equal size, for which improvement we are indebted to John Isaac Hawkins, Esq., who applied it to the upper half of a very ingeniously constructed instrument, manufactured by him many years ago. It has since been carried throughout the entire compass, by Mr. Wornum, whose name is honourably associated with many other improvements in this instrument ; and this construction has the very great advantage of standing in tune better than any other ; but this advantage is obtained at the expense of the under-mentioned defect, which in the humble opinion of the writer, more than counterbalances its advantages.
In selecting the strings for a musical instrument, especially one having a free vibration, as the harp or piano, it will readily appear some proportion between their length and thickness should be observedm for if we employ wire of the same diameter for a string an inch and a half long, as we use for one of four feet in length, it is obvious the stiffness of the short string must immensely exceed that of the long one, the effect of whihc , as might be expected, is either want of vibration in the short string, or if that be thin enough to vibrate well, want of firmness adn fulness of tone in the long one.
In instruments which have equal tension applied to strings of a considerable difference of size, a yet greater defect results from deficiency of the tension of the bass strings which are not covered ; nor do the different parts of the instrument remain in tune with each other, for although the unisons may stand in tine, the octaves soon become false. The above observations do not apply with equal force to stringed instruments such as the bass-viol, whose sounds are sustained by friction, applied directly or indirectl to their strings ; ut even in these, difference in their size is indispensible to an equal quality of tone, as is evidences by putting a gut string of the same size as the first string of a violin on to a double basse, subjecting it to the same tension, when a very thin feeble note results, far inferior to that yielded by it on the violin. The conditions of sound in a musical pipe vary so much from those accompanying the vibrations of strings, that any analogy derived from them might be considered irrelevant ; but from the necessary increase of the diameter of organ pipes towards the base to preserve an equal quality of tone throughout the compass of that instrument, and the fact of the absence of that quality of tone in tube instruments of nearly equal bore, we might be almost justified in concluding that there is in all sounding bodies some proportion between length and bulk, which is most practially advantageous.
Sir, I remain, respectfully,
16, Garlick Hill. ALFRED SAVAGE. [1841]
IMPROVEMENTS IN PIANO-FORTES.
Sir, - In fulfilment of the implied promise contained in by last, I take the opportunity of my earliest leisure to return to the subject of improvements in piano-fortes.
Amongst the causes of the varieties in these instruments, perhaps none is so apt to affect the quality and power of their tones, as the differences in the construction of the sounding board, and as, with few exceptions, the makers of them appear to have no fixed rules for the construction of this, certainly the most important part of the instrument, it may not be undesirable, if, previously to suggesting alteration, we consider, in the first instance, what purposes it is designed to fulfil ; and secondly, what conditions are most favourable to its performing them ; for it is only by such a process of reasoning we may hope to attain that knowledge, by which improvement in the works of art may be effected.
It has been correctly said by Professor Robison that the function of the tube in wind instruments, is, by its length to determine the number of aėrial pulsations in a given interval of time, but that the sound is due to the air in motion within the tube, not to the pipe in which it moves. In piano-fortes, a similar effect is produced by the string, that is, the string determines the number of vibrations, or pitch of the sound, but can hardly be said to produce sound itself, as may be shown, by causing a string to vibrate when stretched over a stiff bar of metal, or any other substance which is incapable of acting as a sounding board, when little or no tone will be perceived. From this fact, it is plain the cause of the sound in stringed instruments must be sought, not so much in their strings as in their sounding-boards ; a larger or smaller strings will, no doubt, considerably influence the quality and power of the tone, and it does so, prbably, by caiseing more or less powerful vibrations of the sounding-board, - the vibrations of the larger string being a more powerful moving force, for it is almost wholly by the vibration of this part of the instrument, causing corresponding aėrial vibrations in the surrounding atmosphere, that the audible sound is produced.
From a consideration of the mode by which a sounding-board is put into a state of vibration, viz., by the vibrations of the elastic string being communicated to it by the bridge, to which both itself and the string are attached, it may be reasonably inferred, that the tone of the instrument will be more powerful and continuous, in proportion to the freedom with which the sounding-board is capable of vibrating, and that its vibrations will be free, in proportion to its lightness, elasticity, and the absence of all pressure or load on it. Now if this inference is not incorrect, I fear the practice of the makers of piano-fortes is very much at variance with reason, for the sounding-board, besides being stiffly barred, which is perhaps needful at the treble part, is commonly loaded with a very considerable downward forte, resultant from the deflection of the strings from a line parallel to itself, and is moreover subjected to a side strain of no small amount, by the lateral deflection of the wire between the two pins of the belly bridge, which latter force would cause the bridge to describe part of a revolution, were it not firmly attached to the belly, which is, of course, necessarily made strong enough to bear these, certainly unnecessary forces. I need harly add, to be sufficiently strong, it must be either heavy enough, or stiff enough, and in either case is less capable of vibration, than if it were lighter, less stiff, and not subjected to such forces as must resist its motion.
As pointing out defects without suggesting remedies is, if not an useless, at least a most ungracious task, I will take the liberty, with all due deference to the numerous "practical men" among your readers, of suggesting, that to obtain the required increase of vibration, the bellies be made considerably larger, and not so stiff, particularly that part beyond the bridge, in the tenor and bass compass ; indeed I know no good reason by upright instruments should not have bellies nearly the whole size of the interior of their cases. Inteh upright instruments constructed in this manner by my esteemed friend, John Isaac Hawkins, Esq., the bellies of which were not "barred off," there was a very considerable increase in their vibration, and consequently in the power of tone ; indeed, the desirableness of this may be rendered probable by the construction of instruments of the violin kind, which, when made for the lower art of the compass of musical sound, have a very large belly, but in piano-fortes, and in particular "grands," have hitherto been generally made with that part of the belly beneath the bass bridge, much smaller in proportion than the tenor part.
Before terminating my observations on the subject of sounding-boards, I may remark, it is a question yet undecided among makers, which is the best direction for the grain of the wood of which they are formed, in which has varied from parallelism to 90°, with the strings ; perhaps the balance of advantages is in favour of the grain being at right-angles, and bellies so constructed only require to be attached to the case of the instrument, at the ends of the grain, which leaves them more free to vibrate. For this improvement, with many others, we are also indebted to Mr. Hawkins, who introduced it into the piano-fortes constructed by him thirty years ago, and that it is an improvement we may be warranted in concluding, from its having been adopted by Messrs. Broadwoods, in the best grand piano-fortes which they have lately produced.
To relieve the sounding-board from the destructive downward pressure, the strings should be parallel to it throughout their whole length, up to the wrest-plank bridge ; and to insure sufficient connexion between teh strings and the bridge, I would recommend the employment of three pins instead of two, inclined at an angle of say 40° to 50° with the plane of the sounding board, and so placed as to intruduce a very slight lateral deflection of the string. Very little indeed is required when three pins are employed, which besides decreasing the danger of breaking the wire, suffers the strings to be more equally stretched throughout their whole length, causing them to "come up" sooner, and stand in tune better. Three pins have also the great advantage of completely compensating the lateral force of the strings, for it will be obvious to your mechanical preaders, that if the strings press with a given force against each of the two outer pins, they must press with a force equal to the sum of those forces, against the centre pins in the opposite direction.
In my next communication I design to advert to the subject of the different modes of bracing piano-fortes, and the arrangements of the moving parts technically termed the action, and may also add a few observations on the proportionate lengths and thickness of the strings or scale, should you, Mr. Editor, consider this offering acceptable.
I remain, yours respectfully,
ALFRED SAVAGE.
16, Garlic Hill. [1841]
THE PIANOFORTE - CONDITIONS OF EXCELLENCE - MERITS OF DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS - IMPROVEMENTS SUGGESTED, &c.
SIR, - I feel an apology is due from me to yourself and the readers of your Magazine, for not having, ere this, contributed my promised communication on the action, &c., of the pianoforte, and I have only to plead in excuse the pressure of those daily avocations which, as all your readers engaged in business will not require to be iinforemed, afford little leiseure for any other pursuits.
The following conditions appear to be indispensable to adapt this instrument to performers of ordinary abilities : - Firstly, that the motion imparted by the finger to the key shall cause the hammer to strike the string with sufficient force almost instantly, and yet that the damper shall be removed from the strings before the hammer strikes them.
Secondly, that the hammer leave the strings instantly after the impact, for if it did not, it would act as a damper ; and that it shall not be liable to return to the string before the blow is required to be repeated.
Thirdly, that the hammer can easily be made to repeat the blow with great rapidity.
Fourthly, that the damping apparatus shall be capable of stopping the vibrations of the strings quickly, and yet not resist the finger of the performer very sensibly.
Fifthly, that the moving parts shall not be much subjected to wear, and, its consequence, becoming noisy.
If the actions of pianofortes in general use be examined with relation to their capabilites of producing the above effects I fear I shall be justified in the opinion that there are none at present known which fulfil all the above conditions ; in support of which opinion I will now proceed to describe the actions in common use.
The common square pianoforte action consists of a hopper attached to the key acting on a lever, technically termed the under hammer, which lifts the hammer that strikes the strings. As the hopper is constructed with an abutment below the level of its top, the lever, or under hammer, falls down upon that abutment after the hopper has "hopped off," and sustains the hammer a little below the level of the strings, which of course affords a complete facility for repeating the blow of the hammer without the key rising to its full height ; indeed, the facility of repeating is so great, that after it has been some time in use, the hammer commonly repeats its blows when not required to to do. This evil has been obviated in more modern instrument, by the introduction of the check, such instruments being designated grand square pianofortes, and certainly they are a great improvement on the common square instruments ; but, from the circumstance of the hopper, under hammer, and even the hammer working on leathern hinges, they wear rapidly. Perhaps the greatest improvement which the action of the square is susceptible of, whould be to take away the under hammer, and make the hopper act directly on the hammer itself, or, in other words, to substitute the action of the grand piano for that of the square.
The action of the upright or cabinet piano is not very dissimilar to that of the square instrument, but the parts are necessarily disposed in a different manner to suit the altered position of the strings - the motion being communicated from the under hammer to the hammer, by means of a long wooden rod called a sticker, which is suspended from the hammer by a leathern hinge, the lower end being attacvhed to the under hammer. This arrangement is much superior to that in the common square pianoforte, as the sticker and under hammer act as a steadying weight to the hammer, and tend greatly to prevent its returning to the string after striking it ; but as the hinges have hitherto been constructed, they must wear more rapidly than bushed centres do. If the expense were not too great for the present rage for low-priced, miscalled cheap instruments, the hopper mightt be made to centre in the key, and the sticker attached to the butt of the hammer, by another wire centre, when its durability would be almost equal to that of a common grand action, and, having to check, it would continue to possess the advantage of repeating the blow with facility.
Upright pianofortes have been made with a jack, or lever action, and check - indeed, the first upright instruments constructed, (the upright grand pianofortes,) were so made ; nor can I perceive any impossibility in making the lever or jack as high as the present hopper and sticker, so that it might act directly on the butt of the hammer, particularly in the very short instruments improperly termed picolo* pianos. Perhaps the increase of expense is the principal objection to such an action being generally used.
* The term "picolo" should, properly, be restricted to a peculiarly constructed pianoforte action, which was the invention of Mr. Wornum, but is often used to signify any very short upright instrument, even if made with the common cabinet pianoforte action.
[]mmon grand action is superior []city and durability to any other, []ng part, excepting the keys, [] made to work on wire axes or [] and it appears capable of ful-[] the required conditions, except-[] of repeating it blow rapidly [] requiring the key to rise to its []t. THe attempts to overcome [] have been pretty numerous, but []r is of opinion it has never been [] but at the expense of greatly [] complexity, and diminished []. One of the earlier attempt, []aps the most successful one, is []Sebastian Errard, in which the [] detached from the hammer by a []t motion of the key ; but this is [] by such complex machiner, [] to be expected the effects of [] be to cause the motion of the []e accompanied by considerable []e practical difficulty is to check []mer sufficiently high up, without []ing the contact of the hammer [] check during its rising. The []as a contrivance which he [] overcome this difficulty, and if [], he will send you, Mr. Editor, []nd description of the same. But [] to the subject of durability. It []sly a most important condition [] machine, that it consist of the []rts which are capable of effect-[]urpose, and that it be so con-[] as to be as durable as possible. []ther of these conditions are usually []p complexity, which is a gene-[]eter of the modern "patent," [] improvements in the action of []anofortes, particularly the at-[] to revive "down striking" []y Kohlman and others, which []pear to have any advantages of []ch are not better obtained by []e sound board above the strings [] construction of Mr. Wornum ; []ravity resists, instead of favour-[]eturn of the hammer, and the []ich does return it is felt to resist []as a spring damper does. []no part of a piano wears more []han the mortises of the keys []ceive the steady pins by which [] retained in their places ; and as []siderable looseness, resulting []r, is accompanied by much []me contrivance which would either diminish wear, or readily compensate for it, would be desirable. I have been informed Messrs. Errard have hung the keys on-bushed centres, and employed oval steady pins under the finger end of the keys ; these being turned partly round, fill up the space produced by wear. Perhaps, if the mortises, particularly that at the end of the key, which wears most, were lined with cloth, the action would not become so noisy as it usually does after being in use for a comparatively short period, to the great annoyance of those who resemble the writer in desiring to hear tone without noise.
If we may judge by the general absence of the means of quickly stopping the vibration of the long bass strings of grand pianofortes, we might infer that there is some practical difficulty in effecting this. I think it will be found that rapid damping is best effected by increasing the surface of the damper. Any increase of its weight is very objectionable, as is also the employment of spring dampers, being felt so very sensibly to resist the finger ; but if extension of surface should be found incapable of damping with sufficient rapidity, I would duggest the employment of two sets of dampers, one above and one below the strings, for the two lowest octaves of the compass, which I know from experience will effectrually damp the most powerful vibrations of very heavy strings of the length of ten feet, which is fully four feet longer than the longest strings of a modern grand piano. In the case of short instruments there is no difficulty in damping, the great difficulty being to continue their vibrations.
On the proportionate lengths and sizes of the strings, depends, to a considerable degree, the obtainment of an equal quality of tone throughout the compass of the instrument ; as does also even still more its standing well in tune ; and should this meet the observation of pianoforte makers, I would, with all humility, beg to hint that it is a part of their business which many of them are too careless of, copying slavishly each other's scales, withoug first investigating the goodness of what they copy. But as it is ungracious to point out defects without suggesting remedies, I beg to offer for their adoption the following scale, which stands well in tune, and affords a very equal quality of tone throughout, the bass being very firm and powerful.
| C | 1 1/8 | in. | No. | 12 | wire |
| " | 3 3/16 | " | " | 13 | " |
| " | 6 1/8 | " | " | 14 | " |
| " | 12 | " | " | 16 | " |
| " | 23 | " | " | 18 | " |
| " | 45 | " | " | 21 | " |
| " | 88 | " | " | 25 | " |
Your practical readers can easily discover for themselves the lengths for the intermediate notes, as also where to commence using covered strings in instruments of ordinary length of the bass, the above scale requires a case full ten feet long.
It would appear as if a perfect scale were a matter of easy obtainment, for all the sounds of the octave can be produced by stopping the vibrations of one string at different lengths, and those lengths can easily be measured. If wire of uniform size and quality were employed, this would no doubt be the best method, but a pianoforte strung with wire of uniform size is very unequal in different parts of the compass. To avoid this greater evil we must choose the less one of using strings of different size, gradually increasing in thickness from the treble to the bass. As thick wire does not undergo so much manipulation as thin wire, its tenacity is usually less ; hence one chief cause of the necessity of making the octave below less than double the length of the strings of a given note ; at the same time it must not be too short ; no increase of thickness will compensate for want of sufficient tension, which produces a bad tone. This is a very common defect in those notes of a piano which are immediately above the covered strings, and it renders what is termed the break in tone very obvious.
The bracing of pianofortes is a very important consideration in their construction, although were mere capability of resistance the only consideration involved, it would not be difficult to design such an arrangement of its parts as would at once combine the least possible weight of material with the greatest strength ; but this would require either that the bracing should be on both sides of the acting force, or that force on both sides of the bracing, as in Mr. John Isaac Hawkins's construction. Now, both these conditions are attended by some practical inconveniences ; the former requiring so much space as to necessitate the employment of crooked keys, and the latter rendering it needful to have one of the attachemnts of the strings moveable, or a most inconvenient length of wire beyond the bridge, if the strings are attached to the other side of the bracing. Perhaps these evils might be avoided in upright instruments, by employing a straining force, equal to that of the strings applied at the back of the wrest plank, and to that part of the frame in front of which the strings are attached ; both these parts of the instrument remaining fixed as at prresent, it would be needful to have a convenient means of determining the amount of the compensating force, as it might otherwise exceed or fall short of the force of tension.
In grand pianofortes it is usual to employ bracing beneath the soound board, and other bracing, technically termed
[] carry out the above suggestion in []cing of grand pianofortes, it would []dful to attach the barrs very firmly [] string plate, and also to the wrest [] which may be best done by cover-[] the latter with an iron or brass plate []ficient thickness into which the [] shoould be inserted, and firmly [] down. The covering plate also []] to prevent the wrest pins from []g over, as it must be drilled to re-[]hem if made as wide as the wrest[]
I remain, yours respectfuly,
ALFRED SAVAGE,
[]rlic-hill, March 22, 1842