circle of sound

[Terry]

Boesendorfer makes their inner rims of spruce -right?

I have often wondered how they can make a decent piano with a soft,
low-density wood like that. Do they use a vertically laminated rim like
American pianos? Does Bechstein also use a spruce inner rim? I inspected an
1880s Weber recently (about 7-foot) and noted that it had a horizontally
laminated softwood inner rim. Kinda neat looking actually (spruce, pine,
don't know exactly what it was - didn't want to dig into it - but definitely
softwood).

I'd sure like to hear any thoughts others might have about why a
manufacturer would go for a low density wood when there is a fair bit of
?logic? well, so many successful builders use a heavy thick hardwood rim.

Terry Farrell

> Hi Terry, Ric, List,
>
> The radiation from speaker cabinet panels would not be
> desirable even if the radiated spectrum were flat,
> which it isn't.  So, MDF, being lossy (dissipative),
> is in that application a good choice (as long as you
> don't remind yourself that you paid all that money for
> particle board). Sustain is definitely not what you
> want in a loudspeaker box.  There is plenty of power
> available from the amplifier to drive the speakers and
> waste some energy in the fill material, the air
> inside, and the MDF.
>
> In contrast, a piano designer probably strives to
> direct as much of the energy into the soundboard and
> get the least energy loss elsewhere so that the board
> can keep vibrating as long and as vigorously as
> possible.
>
> Now, my question is: why does Boesendorfer get decent
> results with a soft rim.  Or, are the results that
> great?
>
> Vladan
>
> =============================================
>
> I don't know Ric, I'm not sure exactly how applicable
> it is, but the
> preferred material for high-fidelity speaker box or
> mounting platform is
> MDF. Also, while it seems a good idea that every part
> of the piano should
> play its role, I'm not sure that all parts need to be
> little soundboards.
> MDF might not hold a screw well, might fall apart
> rather quickly in the
> water, but as far as just being an immobile hunk of
> very dense stuff that
> doesn't vibrate very well - which, I think, is the
> basic function of an
> inner rim - it think it fits that bill even better
> than many hardwoods. It's
> also dimensionally quite stable (I think).
>
> Hmmmmm, an MDF pre-formed inner rim?
>
> I'm really not suggesting that, but I find it
> difficult to imagine how it
> would be a detriment to the musical properties of a
> piano when used as a
> case material.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> Richard wrote:
>
> > Grin.... true enough Terry.... but then that said.
> Steinway does beleive
> > in the idea that every part of the piano should in
> someway or another
> > contribute to the projection and quality of the
> sound. Solid hardwoods
> > cases/rims... vs papboard...?  hmmm
>
>
>
>
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