Whether
you're simply looking for a trusted, experienced piano
tuner, or a hassle-free one-stop shop to take
care of more demanding piano repair and restoration
work, IVORIES.CA has the solution. Call us for your
TORONTO AREA PIANO TUNING, PIANO REPAIR, PIANO SALES,
PIANO RESTORATION and SALES/ RENTAL needs today at 416
871 2550
(PLEASE CALL OR TEXT)
( E-MAIL: info@ivories.ca )
We've been rebuilding and restoring pianos SINCE 1981, melding the latest in sophisticated technology with old world craftsmanship. Grand pianos - some with priceless art case cabinetry - are returned to their original beauty in our shop located in NORTH Y0RK LOCATION AT : 62 ALNESS ST., UNIT 3, TORONTO, ONTARIO, M3J 2H1
Pianos are heavy and powerful, yet delicate instruments. Over the years, professional piano movers have developed special techniques for transporting both grands and uprights, which prevent damage to the case and to the piano's mechanical elements. Pianos need regular tuning to keep them on correct pitch. The hammers of pianos are voiced to compensate for gradual hardening of the felt, and other parts also need periodic regulation. Pianos need regular maintenance to ensure the felt hammers and key mechanisms are functioning properly. Aged and worn pianos can be rebuilt or reconditioned by piano rebuilders. Strings eventually must be replaced. Often, by replacing a great number of their parts, and adjusting them, old instruments can perform as well as new pianos.
involves adjusting the tensions of the piano's strings with a specialized wrench, thereby aligning the intervals among their tones so that the instrument is in tune. While guitar and violin players tune their own instruments, pianists usually hire a piano tuner, a specialized technician, to tune their pianos. The piano tuner uses special tools. The meaning of the term in tune in the context of piano tuning is not simply a particular fixed set of pitches. Fine piano tuning carefully assesses the interaction among all notes of the chromatic scale, different for every piano, and thus requires slightly different pitches from any theoretical standard. Pianos are usually tuned to a modified version of the system called equal temperament (see Piano key frequencies for the theoretical piano tuning). In all systems of tuning, each pitch is derived from its relationship to a chosen fixed pitch, usually the internationally recognized standard concert pitch of A4 (the A above middle C). The term A440 refers to a widely accepted frequency of this pitch - 440 Hz.
The
relationship between two pitches, called an interval, is
the ratio of their absolute frequencies. Two different
intervals are perceived as the same when the pairs of
pitches involved share the same frequency ratio. The
easiest intervals to identify, and the easiest intervals
to tune, are those that are just, meaning they have a
simple whole-number ratio. The term temperament refers
to a tuning system that tempers the just intervals
(usually the perfect fifth, which has the ratio 3:2) to
satisfy another mathematical property; in equal
temperament, a fifth is tempered by narrowing it
slightly, achieved by flattening its upper pitch
slightly, or raising its lower pitch slightly. A
temperament system is also known as a set of "bearings".
Tempering an interval causes it to beat, which is a
fluctuation in perceived sound intensity due to
interference between close (but unequal) pitches. The
rate of beating is equal to the frequency differences of
any harmonics that are present for both pitches and that
coincide or nearly coincide. Piano tuners have to use
their ear to "stretch" the tuning of a piano to make it
sound in tune. This involves tuning the highest-pitched
strings slightly higher and the lowest-pitched strings
slightly lower than what a mathematical frequency table
(in which octaves are derived by doubling the frequency)
would suggest.
carries mostly professionally rebuilt quality high end
brand name pianos. Please inquire by email, text or give
us call. 416-871-2550. More detail will be uploaded
shortly.
Pianos can have over 12,000 individual parts, supporting six functional features: keyboard, hammers, dampers, bridge, soundboard, and strings. Many parts of a piano are made of materials selected for strength and longevity. This is especially true of the outer rim. It is most commonly made of hardwood, typically hard maple or beech, and its massiveness serves as an essentially immobile object from which the flexible soundboard can best vibrate. According to Harold A. Conklin, the purpose of a sturdy rim is so that, "... the vibrational energy will stay as much as possible in the soundboard instead of dissipating uselessly in the case parts, which are inefficient radiators of sound."
Hardwood rims are commonly made by laminating thin, hence flexible, strips of hardwood, bending them to the desired shape immediately after the application of glue. The bent plywood system was developed by C.F. Theodore Steinway in 1880 to reduce manufacturing time and costs. Previously, the rim was constructed from several pieces of solid wood, joined and veneered, and European makers used this method well into the 20th century. A modern exception, Bösendorfer, the Austrian manufacturer of high-quality pianos, constructs their inner rims from solid spruce, the same wood that the soundboard is made from, which is notched to allow it to bend; rather than isolating the rim from vibration, their "resonance case principle" allows the framework to resonate more freely with the soundboard, creating additional coloration and complexity of the overall sound.
Softwood braces, tapered soundboard ribs, soundboard.
The thick wooden posts on the underside (grands) or back (uprights) of the piano stabilize the rim structure, and are made of softwood for stability. The requirement of structural strength, fulfilled by stout hardwood and thick metal, makes a piano heavy. Even a small upright can weigh 136 kg (300 lb), and the Steinway concert grand (Model D) weighs 480 kg (1,060 lb). The largest piano available on the general market, the Fazioli F308, weighs 570 kg (1,260 lb).
The pinblock, which holds the tuning pins in place, is another area where toughness is important. It is made of hardwood (typically hard maple or beech), and is laminated for strength, stability and longevity. Piano strings (also called piano wire), which must endure years of extreme tension and hard blows, are made of high carbon steel. They are manufactured to vary as little as possible in diameter, since all deviations from uniformity introduce tonal distortion. The bass strings of a piano are made of a steel core wrapped with copper wire, to increase their mass whilst retaining flexibility. If all strings throughout the piano's compass were individual (monochord), the massive bass strings would overpower the upper ranges. Makers compensate for this with the use of double (bichord) strings in the tenor and triple (trichord) strings throughout the treble.
The plate (harp), or metal frame, of a piano is usually made of cast iron. A massive plate is advantageous. Since the strings vibrate from the plate at both ends, an insufficiently massive plate would absorb too much of the vibrational energy that should go through the bridge to the soundboard. While some manufacturers use cast steel in their plates, most prefer cast iron. Cast iron is easy to cast and machine, has flexibility sufficient for piano use, is much more resistant to deformation than steel, and is especially tolerant of compression. Plate casting is an art, since dimensions are crucial and the iron shrinks about one percent during cooling. Including an extremely large piece of metal in a piano is potentially an aesthetic handicap. Piano makers overcome this by polishing, painting, and decorating the plate. Plates often include the manufacturer's ornamental medallion. In an effort to make pianos lighter, Alcoa worked with Winter and Company piano manufacturers to make pianos using an aluminum plate during the 1940s. Aluminum piano plates were not widely accepted, and were discontinued.
The numerous parts of a piano action are generally made from hardwood, such as maple, beech, and hornbeam; however, since World War II, makers have also incorporated plastics. Early plastics used in some pianos in the late 1940s and 1950s, proved disastrous when they lost strength after a few decades of use. Beginning in 1961, the New York branch of the Steinway firm incorporated Teflon, a synthetic material developed by DuPont, for some parts of its Permafree grand action in place of cloth bushings, but abandoned the experiment in 1982 due to excessive friction and a "clicking" that developed over time; Teflon is "humidity stable" whereas the wood adjacent to the Teflon swells and shrinks with humidity changes, causing problems. More recently, the Kawai firm built pianos with action parts madeof more modern materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and the piano parts manufacturer Wessell, Nickel and Gross has launched a new line of carefully engineered composite parts. Thus far these parts have performed reasonably, but it will take decades to know if they equal the longevity of wood.
In all but the lowest quality pianos the soundboard is made of solid spruce (that is, spruce boards glued together along the side grain). Spruce's high ratio of strength to weight minimizes acoustic impedance while offering strength sufficient to withstand the downward force of the strings. The best piano makers use quarter-sawn, defect-free spruce of close annular grain, carefully seasoning it over a long period before fabricating the soundboards. This is the identical material that is used in quality acoustic guitar soundboards. Cheap pianos often have plywood soundboards.
The design of the piano hammers requires having the hammer felt be soft enough so that it will not create loud, very high harmonics that a hard hammer will cause. The hammer must be lightweight enough to move swiftly when a key is pressed; yet at the same time, it must be strong enough so that it can hit strings hard when the player strikes the keys forcefully for fortissimo playing or sforzando accents.
PLEASE GIVE US A CALL ( OR SEND US A TEXT MESSAGE ) @ 416 871 2550
We do offer: PIANO TUNING, PIANO REPAIR, PIANO
RESTORATION, PIANO REFINISHING, PIANO SALES & RENTALS.
This company/webpage is owned and operated by Wolfgang W.
MEINING, a graduate of Fachschule fuer
Musikinstrumentenbauer of
LUDWIGSBURG, GERMANY. ( technical college for
builders/makers of musical instruments )