Duplex Scale Tuning/hearing impairment and piano design

[John M. Formsma]

<<<D. W. Fostle, in "The Steinway Saga", pp. 107-114, discusses the problems
of
hearing loss in the Steinways.  Not only Heinrich himself, but the two
Steinway sons most associated with the modern Steinway, Henry Jr. and
Theodore, were hearing impaired, and Fostle suggests that the short-term
hearing loss associated with alcohol further affected Henry's hearing.  Even
the factory workers may have been permitted to drink rather freely, with
similar short-term effects.>>>

So...maybe a better name for Steinway would be, uh, er... HicStein?   :-)
Or...Belchstein?  What about Steinlager, or Steinstagger?  Sorry....hehehe.

I recall the Steinway folks at the convention made a big deal about one of
the Steinways inventing the duplex scale, so I guess we have them to thank
for it.

I was thinking about duplexes while tuning today, and recalled some of the
information about radio waves that I learned while studying for my Amateur
Radio license.  Sound waves should behave the same way.

Seems like I remember that you want all the energy of a wave to be
dispersed, which would necessitate two really good termination points.
Realistically, you will not get all the energy from a wave because there is
always some loss.  Purposefully allowing some of the wave energy to go
beyond the "termination" point does not seem like such a great idea to me.
This is a waste of energy.  Maybe what Steinway was thinking was that there
is going to be _some_ energy lost due to the then current design, and you
might as well have some way to use it.  Hence, the duplex scale.   ???

Interesting thread.

John Formsma
Blue Mountain, MS