•Hi, Does anyone have an original scale for a Marshall and Wendell Ampico grand, 5' 4". The scale was not original when I removed the strings and I'd like to put it back the way it was built originally. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Tony Marsico

•Tony, You would be better off having the bass rescaled as well as the treble. Much more is known about scaling now than when the piano was manufactured. Contact Dave Sanderson in Littleton, Mass. 978-486-0650 Regards, Jon Page

•Tony: I pulled out my string scale book of pianos that I have restrung over the last 30 years. Here is the scale for a 5'4" Marshall & Wendell grand; the notes also say "With Ampico". First number is the size of wire starting in the treble. The second digit is number of notes of that size wire. #13...

•Tony Marsico wrote: > Hi, Does anyone have an original scale for a Marshall and > Wendell Ampico grand, 5' 4". The scale was not original when > I removed the strings and I'd like to put it back the way it > was built originally. Any help would be appreciated. Same thing happened to me with a diffe...

•Years ago I calculated the wire size and tension for restringing a Wurlitzer player piano. I was using a Radio Shack Model 1 computer, so that gives an idea of the date. I measured the vibrating length of each string, and the wire size, entering each into the program. This gave me the present total...

•[ I asked Richard to write about the steel from which [ piano strings are made. -- Robbie I can't address the matter of comparing old steel to the modern product, since I know nothing of the history of when the things I mention were first introduced. But I do know that steel metallurgy is a surpris...

•Hi from Tasmania. Does anybody know of a source for the green string that Aeolian used to use on those rolls that had a string tie around them? It looks like light-weight string fishing line to me. I've been around the fishing tackle shops in Hobart, but nylon reigns supreme these days, except for ...

•Historian Ed Berlin sends this article that appeared in the Kansas City Star, April 26, 1897, page 2. - - - The Piano of the Future A German Inventor Substitutes Electric Current for the Old Lever and Hammers. From the New York Journal. No more hammers in pianos. The old-fashioned method of poundin...

•> Historian Ed Berlin sends this article that appeared in the > Kansas City Star, April 26, 1897, page 2. [snip] Ye Gods. It sounds like this was a piano that used a conventional sounding board, but used the strings as electro-mechanical oscillators, like the vibrating tongue in a buzzer. You could...

•I was fascinated by the two articles on this. This scheme is very similar to the Choralcelo that was discussed a while ago, with one major difference. In the Choralcelo, an alternating current is generated separately from the piano string "harp" assembly. When applied to the string of the same fund...

•Today, if I were to try and imagine such an electrical piano, it would start with a big pre-charged capacitor, the charge dependent upon the desired force of the strike. This capacitor would be connected by the "piano key", via electronic methods such as SCRs and optics, to give an impulse to the e...

•I am familiar with the "E-Bow" which requires no tuning. I have always suspected that the signal used to drive the magnetic field was pink noise. Pink noise contains all of the audible spectrum and would excite the strings without needing to "be in tune". Think of the sound a bell makes in a sand s...

•[ Charles Davis asked in 021118 MMDigest: } > I would like to get the restringing scale for a Bond/Packard upright > piano serial number 26593 (circa 1923). It has Scale 22 written on > the plate. From John Travis' book, "A guide to Restringing": Packard Upright # 109067 13 5 13.5 4 14 5 14.5 4 15 ...

•"Is that really a hurdy, Gerty?" Many years ago I was walking through a subway in Munich when I heard a chicken singing an operatic aria. I found a beautiful exotic bird, in very colorful plumage, in a small jungle of green silk foliage. The bird moved its head, beak, feet and wings in a very natur...

•During the restoration of my Violano it was found out that the comb, the part that keeps the fingers spaced properly, was rusted beyond repair. The man doing the restoration took it upon himself to have the comb reproduced. There was a minimum production run and now he has several extras. This part...

•I am helping with the restoration of a Simplex player action. Several parts are missing and needed for the tracking device. Could anyone send a close-up picture of the left side showing the string hook up and parts? It would appear the pinion centering plate and pinion where lower end of string att...

•Hello MMD, Can anyone define a "bass string twist?" Is it a half turn or a complete turn? I have installed a new set of bass strings in my Duo-Art baby grand. I searched all over the 'Net, looking for info on twisting bass strings. Some say two twists are not enough, three is optimum, some say more...

•The consensus seems to be one turn. The string has to be turned in the right direction. Counter-clockwise is usually it but never assume -- check it. Look closely at the copper coil wrapped around one of the larger bass strings. Right where the winding ends, the end of the coil will be pointing in ...

•I would define a twist as a complete turn. There is some difference of opinion on how many twists to give a bass string whether double or single wound, but there's pretty much a consensus that it gets twisted in one direction: the same direction as the winding is wrapped. If you have the strings tw...

•I've worked in the area of piano repair and rebuilding for approximately 30 years and this is my experience with regards to putting twist in wound strings. In old strings that sound dull or 'tubby', two things can be done to improve the sound. These involve making the string more flexible and addin...