Welcome back!
This post is Part 2 of a 3-part series looking at how a grand piano works. Part 1 is here.The videos, titled “Pianoworks- The Series”, were produced for a Michigan Petrof piano dealer named PianoWorks and were provided to us by polarbear60. (According to polarbear60, this dealer is no longer in business. The web link at the end of the video is no good.) The explanations are similar to what I would have given to a customer back in my piano technician days and are far superior to what could be accomplished with 2-dimensional schematics.
A few comments:
- The hammer is one of the major components of the sound of a piano, affected by varying qualities of felt and degrees of hardness, as well as the size and shape of the hammer.
- Contrary to statements in the video, lacquer is NOT commonly used in hammer manufacture.
- Hammers can be softened by needling if necessary to achieve the desired tone quality.
- The hammer must be adjusted and aligned so that it hits squarely and evenly on all the strings for the note.
- The center rail is the fulcrum of the key.
- Openings in the key for the center rail pin and front rail pin are bushed with felt to keep them from rattling and wobbling side-to-side and front to back.
- If the bushings swell because of humidity and become too tight they will bind, causing the key to stick. In that case the bushing can be compressed a small amount with a special tool. If the bushings wear down too thin or come unglued and fall out the key will rattle and wobble. In that case the bushing felt has to be replaced.
- The damper is the felt piece on all but about the top 1 ½ octaves that rests on the strings and stops the string from vibrating when the key is not depressed. Damper pedal (right pedal) lifts all of the dampers when it is depressed.
I hope this post has helped your understanding of the grand piano. Part 3, in a few days, will take the action out of the piano and let you see it up close. See you then.
