Bill, Thanks for mentioning this book, that is probably where I heard it indirectly from a friend. Doug Hershberger,RPT Aliso Viejo, CA ----- Original Message ----- From: <Bdshull@AOL.COM> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 1999 10:18 AM Subject: Re: Duplex Scale Tuning/hearing impairment and piano design > Doug, Del, list: > > I picked up on this thread rather late -- forgive me for missing a lot of it. > Read Doug's note and couldn't resist this: > > 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. > > Fostle has too many interesting statements to quote them all, but here are a > couple, from p. 114: > > Referring to the "'unpleasant tone' to which some objected,...produced in the > upper partials of the individual notes": "It is likely that Heinrich, > Charles, and Henry Steinway -- and probably William -- did not hear these > partials in the same way that others did, if the Steinways heard them at > all." > > "Decisions at the largest piano manufactory in America, whose instruments and > their sound was the benchmark for the future, were made by men with a unique > perception of the auditory world." > > Bill Shull > > Fully sober, neglecting my shop deadline while writing about typhus- and > alcohol-impaired piano builders on the net.... > > << What was Steinway's role in developing the duplex scale? I'm sure to some > folks in those earlier days the Steinways, which I believe were continually > getting louder and brasher sounding were too much. A technician friend of > mine was reading something about the early days of Steinway and the author > was speculating that a lot of people in the factory in those days could have > actually had major hearing loss. I guess we were just talking about why > Steinway started using hammer hardeners. If there is any truth to that maybe > it could apply to the duplex scale as well. Of course there is no way to > prove that but when he told me it made me wonder. It might have been from > the man that translated Helmholtz's book. Sorry I cannot remember the > source. I'll ask next time I see him. >> >
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