How to Make a Pianoforte, part 2, by W. H. Davies

This is from a series of articles by W. H. Davies of Liverpool published in The English Mechanic and World of Science in July and August, 1878. The first part is here. They can mostly be downloaded from Google Books but part of part 6 is missing. The vertically strung English sticker action upright piano Mr. Davies describes was old fashioned at the time and many piano tuners won't service them now, and the services and patterns he offers as well as the parts he recommends are no longer available so some options might be researched when you follow his directions. I edited and broke it up a little, and reproduced some of the illustrations as vector drawings. The front illustration here is "Strengthening a sounding board using gobars" by W. H. Margetson, from Joseph Hatton's article "How Pianos are Made" in The English Illustrated Magazine 1891-1892.

The second part describes making and fitting the soundboard.

Step 1 Preparing the back

HOW TO MAKE A PIANOFORTE

The next step will be the "bellying;" but, before describing this, I will premise that there are, as the reader is no doubt aware, many methods both of making and fixing the soundboard - the one selected, from its simplicity of structure and freedom from dangerous pressure being, in my opinion, the best adapted under the circumstances.

We will begin by preparing the back to receive it. As the linings are at present level with the bracings, they must be raised by means of hardwood slips to the proper height, the length of the bass slip being of the full depth of the soundboard, and of the same width as the lining; the thickness commencing from under the plank at 1/4in. graduates to 3/4in. at the middle, and down again to 5/8in. at the bottom; the treble slip being less than 9in. in length, the rounding can be dispensed with; it will suffice to slant in a straight line from 1/4in. at the top to 5/8in.,* where it joins the bent side; the wedges are now to be reduced so that a straight edge, when resting at each end of the slips, will just touch them.

{* best guess}

Comments

[SpikeYoung]

For background, try reading "The Piano Shop on the Left Bank" by Thad Carhart. While reading I learned lots about pianos, while all the time he was learning about himself...

[threesixesinarow]

"The wood now almost universally used by European pianoforte makers", wrote Samuel Wolfenden in A Treatise on the Art of Pianoforte Construction in 1916, "is that of the Picea excelsa, the widely grown Norway spruce; sometimes, however, Abies pectinata, { Abies alba } a very similar wood, indeed scarcely indistinguishable, takes its place. In the trade the wood is called 'Swiss pine,' but it must not be confused with Pinus Helvetica...In America a similar wood is yielded by the Picea alba."

[threesixesinarow]

"Pine", wrote Charles H. Snow in The Principal Species of Wood in 1908, "is prized because of a combination of strength, elasticity, light weight, working qualitites, and, until recently, wide spread availability...Thirty-nine of the seventy known species of pine are found in the United States. These with their woods are separated into two groups known as hard and soft pines."

[GorillazMiko]

Once again, another awesome job. How many parts will there be? It looks really interesting to try out, probably a bit to hard for me though.