Glass soundboard

[gordon stelter]

Dear Sarah, Everyone,
     I have been working for 30 years  ( off and on )
on a  radically unusual soundboard design which will
overcome all the deficiencies of the traditional form,
yet still sound "like  a piano ". I haven't built it (
time/money ) but my experiments seem to confirm that I
am definitely "on the right track".
     If someone came forth whom I could trust, willing
to sign a pledge of confidentiality and also willing
to help me go through the grief of patenting the
thing, I wouldn't mind partnering with them to build a
prototype and perhaps put it into production.
     ( I DO have 60,000 square feet of factory space
and a big machine shop to play with! )
     Reply privately if you don't think this is a
joke.
     Thump


     
--- Sarah Fox <sarah@graphic-fusion.com> wrote:

> It figures!  ;-)
> 
> I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  I'm glad to
> see that someone's doing 
> the R&D.
> 
> Peace,
> Sarah
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bernhard Stopper" <b98tu@t-online.de>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 9:23 AM
> Subject: Re: Glass soundboard
> 
> 
> > Yamaha holds a patent for piano soundboards with
> multiple laminates having
> > different elastic moduli, in fact this patent
> covers also carbon fiber 
> > piano
> > soundboards. A prototype piano with a carbon fiber
> soundboard (a Sauter
> > upright) was made by Renner/Sauter some years ago.
> I did not sound good, 
> > but
> > this may be caused by lack of  know how to
> dimension correctly the layer
> > thicknesses. One may use a virtual simulation of
> modal analysis in a
> > computer before, to come close to the behaviour of
> a wooden sounboard.
> >
> > regards,
> >
> > Bernhard
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@graphic-fusion.com>
> > To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2004 2:58 PM
> > Subject: Re: Glass soundboard
> >
> >
> >> Hi Cy,
> >>
> >> > Now, carbon fiber might be interesting...
> >>
> >> Indeed!  I'm eagerly anticipating one of y'all
> getting into a radically
> >> experimental mood -- especially one of you
> soundboard gurus.
> >>
> >> Carbon fiber is being used very successfully for
> construction of the 
> >> lower
> >> register string instruments and (I'm pretty sure)
> for guitars.  They're
> >> still working on a carbon fiber viola and violin.
>  Of course there may
> > never
> >> really be a carbon fiber violin, since the design
> parameters of that
> >> instrument are so rigid.
> >>
> >> I suspect the chief complaint about the carbon
> fiber piano soundboard 
> >> will
> >> be the same as that for the glass soundboard --
> that there's too much
> >> sustain -- that it's too efficient.  As I've
> suggested before, there are
> >> many ways to make the piano "perform" better, but
> at some point, the 
> >> piano
> >> no longer sounds like a piano (in the inefficient
> sense that we all know
> > and
> >> love).  The steel soundboard piano is a case in
> point.  A piece composed
> > for
> >> a modern piano may not sound "right" on a piano
> of the future, much the
> > same
> >> way that a piece composed for an ancient piano
> often has problems with
> >> regard to the modern piano (e.g. with regard to
> damping/pedaling).
> >>
> >> I might suggest, in the interim, that newer, more
> efficient soundboard
> >> materials might be made less efficient (and more
> "wood-like") by damping
> >> them with other materials.  For instance, how
> about constructing a steel
> >> soundboard with an inner and outer skin and a
> thin core of tar-laden 
> >> felt?
> >>
> >> As for the glass soundboard...  I wonder what 50
> years of age would do to
> >> it...  Glass does become brittle with age.  Even
> if the sound of the 
> >> thing
> >> appeals to some folks, it will surely change,
> just as surely as wood.  If
> >> I'm not mistaken, it will lose much of its
> flexibility with age, so bass
> >> response will be sacrificed somewhat.  At the
> same time, the
> > ear-shattering
> >> treble response will still be just fine.  As the
> glass continues to
> > harden,
> >> it will become brittle, so there will come a
> point that it might explode
> >> under the downbearing -- probably during a very
> loud chord!  While this
> >> might be very "impressive" in concert <chuckle>,
> I wouldn't want to be 
> >> the
> >> person at the piano!  ;-)
> >>
> >> Peace,
> >> Sarah
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> > 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
> 



		
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