Frame (1) – Best understood as the body of the piano. In an upright, the frame and strings are vertical; in a grand piano the frame is horizontal. (Smit)
Plate (2) – 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 large plate would absorb too much of the vibrational energy that should go to through the bridge to the soundboard. 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. (Smit)
Capo Bar (3) – A bar on the treble end of the piano frame which guides the strings. The bottom of the bar has a rounded, V-shape which the strings pass under. The bar presses down on the strings, defining their speaking length. On the far end of the frame, the strings terminate at the hitch pins, small metal pins that are driven directly into the cast-iron frame. (Smit)
Damper (4) - Soft block or triangular shaped felts which are timed to stop the vibration of the piano strings at a carefully calculated point. Therefore, the damper silences vibrating strings when they fall on it. This either occurs at the release of the piano key or when the right or “sustain” pedal is released and no notes are held by the hand. Located behind the action. (Kramer)
(pic.-Piano Renaissance)
Lid (5) – Not much beyond covering the strings, bridge and sound board. It can affect the acoustic repercussion of grand pianos depending upon whether it is open or closed. (Smit)
Sostenuto rail (7) - works to sustain only particular notes, usually the bass, so the right hand can perform a staccato melody while the bass harmony is sustained. (Smit)
Pedal Mechanism, Rods (8, 9, 10)- reaches from the pedals to depress the sostenuto rail or damper. This works to soften or sustain the tone played. 4
Pedals (11) - right (sustain/damper), middle (sostenuto), left (soft/una-corda) - Levers which the feet control to either sustain notes being played (right or sustain pedal), soften tone from piano by shifting the action to change hammer contact with strings (the left or una-corde pedal, or to sustain individual notes being played (the middle or sostenuto pedal). (Smit)
Bridge (12) - Long shaped and carved hardwood rails usually maple or other hardwood, which span across the soundboard and guide strings to transfer vibration from strings to the bearing surfaces of the bridge to the soundboard. Bridges are sometimes capped, are notched and are pinned for unison groupings of strings. (Smit)
Hitch pin (13) - At the far end, the strings loop around "hitch" or end pins. Then the string is sent back to the next tuning pin at the front of the piano. What appear to be two different strings, is actually two halves of the same string. These two halves may be used for different notes. The string is wrapped around the hitch pin tightly enough that this is possible. (Hammer)
Key frame (14) - A wooden frame with slats and rails which hold the keys and action. It works with the una corda pedal as well. (Smit)
sound board (15)- a bowed wooden surface over which the strings are stretched, spanning the entity of the frame. The vibrating strings pass their tone across the sound board which acts as a resonator. When you listen to a piano, it is largely the soundboard you are hearing. (Smit)
string (16) - - The bass strings are heavy gauges strings found in the bass and sometimes tenor sections of the scale. Bass strings have a steel core with copper windings of differing diameters depending on their position in the scale. As the scale ascends the steel strings decrease in diameter to create the higher pitch. (Smit)
- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Fortepian_-_schemat.svg/800px-Fortepian_-_schemat.svg.png
Originally the Bechsteins were farmers, craftsmen and teachers. The teachers among them were able to use music in elementry school education, which may have been the catalyst for Carl Bechstein's success. Others in the family were involved in theology, natural science, and forestry. An individual talent for music performance entered the family in a royal court. Carl Bechstein's grandfather Christoph worked as a valet for the Prince of August of Gotha-Altenburg; this talent cresendoed across generations. One of his sons, Friedrich Wilhelm August, extensivley studied Mozart and Beethoven while he was not working as a wig maker and barber. His son, Carl, went on to found the industry that has since gained international renown.
Carl had a turbulent childhood. His father died at a young age and was charged to an unfeeling step-father, Cantor Agthe. However, it was from this stern figure that Carl gained his musical education. He taught Carl violin, piano and cello.
When Carl came of age he was apprenticed under, Johann Gleitz, a piano maker. After his apprenticeship, in 1844, Carl traveled and spent some time in Dresden. In 1848 he returned to Berlin, and found employment with the piano maker Perau. He trusted Carl, and put him in charge of his shop after only a few months.
However, Carl's ambition was to travel and study piano construction in France; they were said to be the best in in the world. So, in his free time he studied French, and in the Autumn of 1849 he went to Paris and stayed for three years. He could have chosen between two masters, but settled on Kriegelstein.
Locally, 1821 Paris, Sebastian Erard had crowned the so-called English action with devising the repetition double release. This invention prompted the hammer to be caught in such a way that immediatley after the first touch, it was ready for the next tone. The already powerful French sound was improved upon, and allowed the instrument to perform more elaborate techniques. Carl learn how to create this powerful tone, and in time how to preserve the tone qualities.
In 1852 Carl returned to Berlin, taking over the managment of the Perau factory. Then he bounced back to Paris and became superintendent of Kriegelstein's factory. Then he chose Berlin to found his own "Bechstein piano fabrik."
Carl took nine months to build only two pianos, but they were top quality. He had no money to hire workers, so he built them himself. However, after skilled pianists used and praised the quality of his work, broadened his customer base and allowed him to expand his enterprise. Franz Lizt, who broke inferior piano's strings with his outstanding skill and power at play, tried out one of Bechstein's. After recieving his approval Carl gained a life long friend and the approval of an important voice, that expanded his customer base.
Bechstein created his first grand piano in 1856 with high quality craftsmanship, combining the best of each style of piano craftsmanship (an English action; arranging the strings of the crosswise on a cast-iron frame. In 1862 he submitted one of his works to the Industrial and Art Exhibition in London where he recieved a silver medal. More noteworthy is the quoted praise given his instrument; "[they] are distinguished by their imminent freshness and brightness of tone, lightness of touch and, and homogeneity in the various registers, and they might quite probably withstand the most powerful treatment."
Years of Expansion:
In 1856 Carl both expanded his factory and married Louise Doring. He had two sons who later took over the buisness His first son, Edwin, who later worked under his father. In 1861 Carl bought two plots of land and rebuilt a ramshackle house on the property into a working factory. After his success at the exhibition, business from Russia, England and its common-wealth increased. Over the years he also established agencies in the cultural centers of Europe, America, South Africa and Asia. Because of his foundation in Berlin all of these proved profitable, and in the late 1860's he built a new wing into the factory.
Consider the timeline. In the first seven years of buisness he produced 176 instruments; in ten years (with the addition of 130 workers) he was producing ~ 400 instruments per year; in 1883 he was producing 1,200 instruments every year.
He admitted his three sons, Edwin, Carl, and Johann to the firm in 1894. In 1896 he recieved an award that did not please him as much the Golden Medal presented his pianos in the same year. The mark of a good buisnessmen, having more regard for the professionalism of his product than his own prestige.
He died on March 6, 1800; a few months before his wife.
In 1900 there was a boom for piano production because of the growing renown for the Bechstein product, the skill and proficiency of the firm's workers and the social trend towards music at the time. Piano's were a required tool of composers for both presentation and construction. Also, the suave finish, and solid craftsmanship allowed virtuosos to execute inspiring passages. It also was used more in private homes. As the genre of piano music expanded beyond advanced solos and concerti, the audience and performability grew. Polka, waltz, opperettas and dance music moved the piano to shadier climes of dance-halls and coffee houses.
After Carl's death the firm passed to between his three sons who maintained and expanded the buisness superbly until the debacle of WWI. Though there was no initial decline in production, the economic inflation made it at first difficult, then impossible for buyers. The sons Carl and Edwin worked to form a joint stock company in 1923 to restore production. It worked. Part of this is due the breadth of renewed interest in the instrument, the great pianists (across a wider breadth of genres) still recommended Bechstein.
New versions created by the company and the continued praise by the experts helped. However, the turning point for the company occurred because of internal division and competition. In 1926 the brothers Carl and Edwin (both principle share holders) fought because Edwin thought a new investment was too expensive and even left the firm. When his shares went up for grabs, the buyers indebted the buisness. Only the concerted effort and initiative of the family saved the company from bankruptcy throughout the war years.
After the war, things were bad. Workers were few, matiriels were few, the equipment was busted by allied bombings. In the 1950's a new market in small towns and musical education was exploited to restore the company. They worked on many upright pianos, whose wider range of pitch and consistent tone made a better product, each with a different unique tone. Their buisness with the USA increased as well, and was even bought by the Baldwin company based in Ohio. IN May 1986 a German craftsman bought it back.
The company continues with success due to its continuing tradition of proffesional production.
My visit to the center reflected the Bechstein standard for prestige and hospitality. I was greeted by an elderly gentlemen who bore the regal title "Sir." He guided me across to the mall's three room's which displayed the company's three standards of quality.
The second room held antique piano's and pictures of Carl Bechstein and his friend Franz Lizst. There I was greeted by a piano technician who was replacing a leg, who showed me the different pianos and said I was free to play them. After tinkering in Bm, I walked around the room and saw the technician's table with an assortment of tools and a display board of various actions on the piano.
The third room held the company's keyboards. It was a pleasure; they were hospitable.
The Bechstein website presented information concerning the matiriel construction of the product and the pains taken to retain the company's prestige in the industry.
The wrought matiriels were interesting.
Wood was a common matiriel: spruce to construct the keys and soundboards. Pine for inspecting towards tonal possibilities. Pine and beech were bent into shape with a press and glue to compose the body of the piano.
The bridge is also wrought from wood, with a beech body and a hornbeam cap, which makes the best transfer of sound possible through the bridge.
The belly rail is made of beech with pine covers important for soundboard augmenting sounds.
I found it interesting that they keep a record from all the pianos they made since 1853. That helps them keep track of different developments they make in production and how they affect the longevity of the frame. When I visited their shop it was interesting to see the different types of actions they used to construct different types of piano.
Iron is cast to form the frame of the pianos, which contributes to the large range scale. It also serves as an enduring matirel that can withstand the pressure of many strings at the same time.
They inspect their hghest quality of pianos many times. In voicing, they shaping manipulate the tone for all all possibilities, tune the piano expertly and analyze each note for dynamics and with each hammer and pedal,
Everything is inspected. More than 500 hours go into production with more than 200 people involved.