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3.7 RESTORATION OF THE DAMPER
The damper action showed serious mechanical damages (fig. 15a). Numerous
damper guiding rods and lost dampers had to be reconstructed, and finally
the entire damper action in the instrument reconfigured (figs. 15b to d).
3.8 STRINGING
The sound of a piano is the result of a very complex vibration system –
consisting of the mass and elasticity of the soundboard, the mass and
striking dynamics of the hammers, and not least the mass, tension,
elasticity, and capacity of the strings – that is, a system with at least eight
variables, in part unknown parameters, among them also the intended
pitch. Precisely in consideration of the rapid development in piano
construction in this period, it was first not excluded that some original
stringing remained within the extant, very inhomogeneous set of strings.
The extant stringing was thus first reconstructed by interpolation and the
tension calculated. With brass bass strings of 1.25 mm and steel strings
up to 0.49 mm in the treble (this corresponds approximately to the period
around 1830), the result was a total string tension of around 34,000 N,
corresponding to an equivalent of ca. 3,400 kp. Comparison with other,
FORTEPIANO
BY
NANNETTE
STREICHER
Fig. 15: Restoration of the damper.
a. Condition before treatment.
b. Replacement of missing pieces.
c and d. Reconstructed wedge-shaped damper.
a
b d c
