Loud Blow, Soft Blow

Barb Richmond brichmon@titan.iwu.edu
Sat, 18 Nov 1995 08:49:22 -0600 (CST)


On Fri, 17 Nov 1995, Laurence Beach wrote:

> This discussion, however, sparks a question of my own.  On many pianos,
> in the extremes of the treble section, the sound often decays so rapidly
> that the sound is perceived as a 'knock' rather than a tone.  Not only is
> the sound unpleasant, but it also makes for very difficult tuning.  I
> have not experimented with altering wire size in this range, but I am
> curious if using a thinner wire would improve the sustaining ability of
> the note.  I do know that it would definately affect the tone of the
> notes in question, and from the previous discussion on breaking bass
> strings, increase the risk of snapping treble strings.
>
> Laurence Beach

Well, you have to have *some* knock for it to be a piano---but by thinning
the hammer shank and or removing some wood off of the hammer head one can
drastically reduce the knock of treble hammers.

Barbara Richmond, RPT
only for a short time now, at
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, Illinois



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