wammy bar? say what!

[rjarsenault1101]

is it possible to add a wammy bar to an upright piano, or am I just thinking crazily?

[ajspiano]

Crazy i would think. A piano is under a LARGE amount more strain than a guitar..  you would need mountains of leverage, and it would put the instrument out of tune pretty quickly.

[silverwoodpianos]

The tension on guitar string is approximately six inch pounds of tension.

 Piano wire is commonly between 180-200 inch pounds.

Impossible to accomplish with the high tension scale in the piano, as the wire will go way out of tune or fracture constantly.

Bluthner Aliquot stringing allows certain pieces of wire to be tuned an octave higher than the corresponding unison.

So that would be similar to a twelve string with the exception of the aliquot string is not touched by the hammer, whereas the twelve string is played.

https://plus.google.com/photos/107990527405079149600/albums/5188143105981450273?banner=pwa

[silverwoodpianos]

 dbl posting

[ajspiano]

The tension on guitar string is approximately six inch pounds of tension.

Piano wire is commonly between 180-200 inch pounds.

Obviously you know this silverwoodpianos but I guess I'll point out that pianos also have 200+ strings vs the 6 on a guitar..   even if you could fit one it'd take a giant to move the lever, and you might lift the whole piano before the strings move enough to get the whammy effect..

[chopin2015]

You should try tuning the piano higher, first....lol

[silverwoodpianos]

The tension on guitar string is approximately six inch pounds of tension.
 Piano wire is commonly between 180-200 inch pounds.

Obviously you know this silverwoodpianos but I guess I'll point out that pianos also have 200+ strings vs the 6 on a guitar..   even if you could fit one it'd take a giant to move the lever, and you might lift the whole piano before the strings move enough to get the whammy effect..

Now you know too. The high tension scale coupled with the total mass of wire would prevent any attempt to install a bar such as that type.

The instrument would run wildly out of tune, the wire would fracture, the plate would crack, the instrument would be elevated from the floor (unless it was an upright.)

Any of those scenarios are plausible.