All posts by Robert Estrin

Why are Piano Pin Blocks Made of Wood?

I love watching and learning from your YouTube channel Living Pianos. I don’t know if you know the answer to this question, but why are all pin blocks made of wood? It would seem that by now someone would have found a better material that wouldn’t have all the disadvantages of wood.

Thanks,
Jay

You ask an intelligent question about pinblocks. In fact, I have a video which explores alternatives to wooden pinblocks pioneered over 100 years ago by Mason & Hamlin.

The good thing about wooden pinblocks is that they can be replaced if they wear out. They also provide excellent tuning stability for the enormous combined weight that the strings exert on the pins. With new technologies, perhaps new materials will surface for pinblocks, but wooden pinblocks have served us well up until this point.

Piano Questons – Production Equipment – The Camera and Audio Recorder I Use

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your emails and videos; they have really valuable information for piano owners.

I would like to know what kind of video and audio recorder you use for your videos.

Thank you,

– Marcos

I use 2 recorders for the videos:

– Sony PCM-D50 for the piano

– Tascam Field recorder with XLR inputs: I plug in a DPA phantom powered, miniature lapel mic for my voice

The video is shot on one (and sometimes a second camera):

– Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 with a Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F0.95 lens

– Canon EOS T2i with Ultrasonic 0.48m/1.6ft 28-105mm lens

It is essential that the mics are placed precisely for a good recording. Lighting is incredibly important for the quality of the video as well.

Piano Questions: Can Chord Clusters De-Tune a Piano? Refinishing an Upright Piano

Can playing successive, heavy chord clusters detune a piano?

I’ve heard that it can, but find it hard to believe that chord clusters could cause more problems than something like a Rachmaninoff or Liszt Etude.

Thank you,
Julie

It may seem amazing that playing chord clusters could de-tune a piano! However, it isn’t the particular sonorities that cause the detuning, it is the sheer force of sound that can flex the soundboard, thereby altering string tension slightly. In fact, one technique that concert level tuners will sometimes employ is after finishing the tuning of a piano, closing it, putting down the sustain pedal and playing as many keys as possible with the arms on the keyboard to generate huge sound. This will help to hasten the de-tuning of strings that may not be solidly set. The tuner can then re-tune the offending notes and have a piano that may endure the strength of a concert pianist’s performance without having the piano go out of tune quite as much since the most susceptible notes have already been corrected.

Hello Mr. Estrin,

Love your youtube channel! Thanks for the tour of those fabulous pieces of history. I have a few favorites.

Quick question. I have a near 100-year-old Nordheimer upright piano and I just adore the sound from it but the piano frankly looks like it was beaten with an ugly stick. I have some woodworking skills and was considering stripping off the old cracked glaze and spraying on a colored high gloss latex paint for some color cause it couldn’t look much worse than it does now. I know where the soundboard is so if spray all the other non-moving cabinet will this ruin my piano’s sound? I will not go anywhere near the soundboard.

Thanks for any advice you may be able to offer.

Sincerely,

Brandt

So glad you appreciate my videos! As for the piano, you shouldn’t underestimate the massive amounts of work it takes refinishing a piano. If a had a nickel for every half refinished upright piano I have seen, I could probably buy a nice Steinway! The piano has to be disassembled to a large extent. It shouldn’t hurt the instrument if it is done correctly.

Good luck!

The Mystery of the Piano Fallboard… Will it ever be solved?

To answer this question honestly, the fallboard doesn’t really do anything of major importance on a piano. Its main function is to cover the keys of the piano and prevent them from accumulating dust. But is there more to the fallboard than this simple explanation?

A very common question I get asked from time to time is whether or not there are fallboard injuries and if people should invest their money into a slow close fallboard. On some new pianos, you will find a slow close feature on the fallboard – this is simply a mechanism that brings down the fallboard gradually as opposed to simply dropping.

But is it really necessary? Not really; for two reasons. One is that injury due to a fallboard is rare – it does happen sometimes – but it’s generally not the fault of the player. I’ve never hit a fallboard down simply playing the piano. However, if someone leans on it while you’re trying to play, it can fall and potentially cause injury. Two, the fallboard falling down over the keys will almost never damage the piano. There just isn’t enough force to be a problem.

But is the fallboard’s purpose of covering the keys really that important? Surprisingly no; I would actually recommend against it in certain situations. If you have ivory keys you will want to leave the fallboard up. Why? If you leave it down all the time the ivory will become yellow over time. If you leave the fallboard up the keys will continue to be bleached by the sunlight and any light in the room. I virtually never close the fallboard on my Baldwin concert grand.

Keeping the fallboard closed will prevent dust from getting on the keys, but then you will have to dust the fallboard!

It really is interesting when you think about it. A fallboard does not provide anything essential to the piano yet almost all pianos have them. Why is it there? One possible use is to discourage kids from banging on the piano.

One last question I was asked once but actually could not answer is why the fallboard is called a fallboard. And I really don’t know – but my guess would be that it is a board that falls over the keys. If you have any insight into this you can share it here on LivingPianos.com!

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin. Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

The Evolution of the Piano Part 2: Digital and Hybrid Pianos

In the first installment of this series, we talked about the evolution of the piano in terms of traditional pianos and the new design elements being implemented. The use of synthetic materials in traditional pianos is an incredibly interesting development in piano design and production. I received a number of comments from all of you and I really appreciate the conversation and insight you all provided.

In this next installment, I would like to discuss the advancement of pianos when it comes to digital and hybrid pianos. They have come a long way, so long that they are actually becoming a preferred format for certain musicians and venues.

Many years ago the first attempts at making electric pianos emerged. In truth, they sounded nothing like actual pianos. The Wurlitzer and the Fender Rhodes pianos had traditional piano keyboards but they produced bell-like sounds. It wasn’t until the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with the invention of digital sampling that digital pianos could actually sound like a real piano! They achieved this by having little recordings for each note and then looping them – the technology wasn’t available to record the entire length of each note so only a small sample of the attack portion of the note was used. The decay of the notes was achieved by looping a portion of the sound and fading it out. I actually owned a Kurzweil K250 – an 88 note digital wooden key piano, one of the first instruments capable of replicating the sound and feel of a piano. I enjoyed producing many soundtracks in my studio since the Kurzweil offered hundreds of strikingly realistic instrument replications.

Since that time, digital sampling has evolved tremendously. Now digital pianos most often have several recordings of each note at different velocity levels. The realism of these instruments is simply astounding. There is actually a newer technology called physical modeling which takes into account the attack of the keys and the hammers hitting the string and many other aspects of the sound we never thought possible when digital pianos were first invented. This technology makes it possible to replicate pianos that couldn’t exist in the real world – twelve and twenty-foot pianos, aluminum strings – the possibilities are endless.

Some of the best digital pianos today are software based, which is why a lot of professionals utilize something called keyboard controllers. These don’t produce sounds but they actually transmit key information via MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) to a laptop, computer, or sound module which allows the player to use the latest in technology without having to buy new keyboards every year.

Digital pianos generally fall into two categories: portable and home units. Portable digital pianos are generally used by professionals. They usually have no speakers or very small speakers on board. They are hooked into sound systems for performance and recording. These are like portable pianos except they produce sound digitally and have a much simpler type of action mechanism. The other type of digital piano can actually look like a real piano but they have no strings or soundboard. They also produce the sound digitally but have substantial sound systems built into sometimes extravagant furniture.

In my opinion, some of the inexpensive digital pianos are just as good as units costing much more. When you spend more you are mostly getting better furniture and more substantial sound systems. Some of these high-end digital pianos from Korg, Yamaha, Kurzweil, and others are so advanced they offer the players even more options than ever before. You can plug in microphones to harmonize your voice with the piano; you can record yourself digitally creating full orchestrations! There are music software programs for learning music theory and more.

But are digital pianos really a substitute for traditional pianos? In a pinch, yes. But what’s more impressive about these instruments is the things you can’t do with a traditional piano. As far as recording music, the software available on these pianos is incredibly powerful – you can record multiple lines of music, you can bring up your notes and edit them; the options are endless. It’s like having a word processor for music at your fingertips!

But when it comes to hybrid pianos, things get a little more interesting. Roland and Yamaha have pianos now that are considered hybrids – they are trying to bridge the line between digital and acoustic pianos and they are getting closer.

Some of these hybrid pianos like the Yamaha AvantGrand actually have full piano actions in them and function as normal, but the sound is created digitally.

These pianos can be incredibly useful in certain situations. If you ever had to practice on a practice room piano in a school, you know how hideously out of tune these pianos almost always are. With people playing them constantly they will hardly ever be in tune or voiced to a decent level of performance. Traditional pianos just aren’t capable of withstanding that kind of use. With a hybrid piano – where the action is the same as a real piano but the sound is digital – this can provide a better alternative to an acoustic piano. There are plenty of situations – like hotels or restaurants where hybrid pianos offer an ideal solution.

The question is whether we will ever get to a point where hybrid pianos are actually more common than traditional acoustic pianos? I believe that there is nothing better than an acoustic piano, however, in certain situations, I would much prefer to play on a high-quality hybrid piano than a beaten up acoustic piano.

As always, I’m interested in your opinions and thoughts on this matter. Robert Estrin: Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729