The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-08-17
The Piano and How Made.

The piano, after one hundred and fifty.
seven years after its invention, IN spite OF
its great cost, has become the leading musi.
cal instrument of Christendom. England
produces thirty thousand every year; the
United States, twenty-five thousand France
fifteen thousand; Germany, perhaps ten
thousand !; and all other countries, ten thou
sand; making a total of ninety thousand,
or four hundred and twenty two for every
working day 1t is computed, that an aver:
age piano is the result of one hundred and
twenty nine days work and consequently,
there must be at least fifty thousand men
emploved in the business. And it is only
within a few years that the making Of these
noble instruments has been done on any
thing like the present scale. Messrs. Broad
wood Of London, who have made IN all,
ond hundred and twenty nine thousand
pianos, only beg in to count at the year i'So;
and in the United States there were scarcely
fifty pianos year made fifty years ago.
The construction of an American piano Is
n continual act of defensive warfare against
the future inroads of our clmate-a climate
which is polar for few days in January,
tropical for n week or two in July, Nova
Scoiun now and then in November, ana al
all times most trying to the liner woods,
feathers. and fabrics. To make piano IS
now not 50 difficult ; but to make one that
will stand in America, that is very difficult.
Most of the timber used in an American
piano requires two years seasoning at least.
From the yard it is transferred to the steam
driving house, where it remains subjected to
a high Temperature for three months. The
wood has then lost nearly all the warp there
ever was in it., and the temperature may
change fifty degrees in twelve hours las it
does sometimes in New York; without ser-
ously etiecting a fibre. Besides this, the
timber il sawed in such a manner as to neu.
tralize, in some degree, its tendency to warp,
or, rather, so rs to make it warp the right
way. The reader would be surprised to
hear the great makers converse on this sub
iect of the Wrapping OF timber. They have
studied the laws which govern warping they
know why wood warps, how each variety
warps, how long time each KIND continues
TO warp, and how to fit one warp against
another, 50 as to ncutralZe both. If two
or more pieces Of wood are to be glued
together, it is never done at random; but
thew arc so adjusted that one will tend
70 warn one way, and another another
Even the thin yeneers upon the case act rs
n restraining force upon the baser wood
which they cover, and iii come parts OF the
instrument the veneer is double tor the pur.
pose of keeping both in order.
In one establishment in New York five
hundred and twelve men are employed
TLis force aided by one hundred and two
labor. saving machines, driven by steam
prwcr equivalent to two hundred horses
PRODUCES a piano in one hour and fifteen
Minutes. a man with the ordinary tools
can make q piano III about Jour months, but
it could not possibly be as good one as
those produced in the large establishments
Nor, indeed, is such feat ever attempted
in the United States. The small makers
who manufacture one to i've Instruments a
week, generally as already mentioned, buy
the different parts il is u business to make
the hammers of ~ piano; il is lpGtEnr bust.
ness to make the faction - another to make
the keys another, the legs, another, the
cases, another, the pedals. The manntac'
turc of the hardware used in piano is
very important hrluGh, fnd it Is Il separate
business to sell it. The London Directory
cnumcrates iorty.two different trades and
businesses related to the piano; and we
presume there are not fewer IN New ork.
Vixen the case is finished, all except the
final hand.polsh, It is taken to the sound.
ing. board room. The sounding roAm-a
thin, clear sheet of spruce under the strings
is the pianos soul, wanting which, 1t were
IA dead thing. Almost every resonant sub
stance IL nature has been lrlculo Souilulhs
boards, but nothing has been found equal to
spruce. Countless experiments have been
made with view to ascertain precisely the
best way of shaping, arranging, and fixing
the sounding board, the best thickness, the
best number and direction of the supporting
ribe; and every great maker is happy in the
conviction that he is h.tie Letter in sound.
ing .boards than any Of his rivals. Next,
the strings are inserted; next, the action
and the keys, Every one will pause to ad.
mire the hammers Of the piano, so light, yet
so capable of giving a telling hloW, which
evoke all the music of the strings, but
mingled with that music no click, nor thud,
nor thump, Of their own. The telt employ.
ed varies in thickness from one sixteenth of
an inch to an inch and an eighth, and costs
So. rs in gold per pound: Only Paris, it
seems, can make it good enough for the
purpose. Many of the keys have double
telling, compressed from an inch and half
to three quarters OF an inch, and others
again have an outer covering of leather to
keep the strings from emitting, the FELT
Simple as the finished hammer looks, there
are a hundred and fifty years of thought and