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Topic: All three strings?  (Read 1959 times)

pocorina

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All three strings?
on: April 09, 2005, 08:04:42 PM
If a piano has three strings per note, does the pitch deteriorate evenly? Or do some of the strings become flat before others? If so, is this the reason why some notes seem a little twangy or dull?

Offline faulty_damper

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Re: All three strings?
Reply #1 on: April 09, 2005, 08:57:50 PM
It is nearly impossible to get the strings in a unison to be perfect to each other.  A above middle C may be 440 but the actual rate of vibration of each string will be off by thousandths of a hertz.  It could be 440.00001 and it will be noticeable if the other strings are at 440.0.  The only pure unison is with one string vibrating alone.

Also, within a 3-string unison, there are actually only two strings.  Two wires are actually within that unison, the other shares itself with the next note.  The problem with this type of set up is that changes in environment causes the piano to swell or shrink and can stretch the strings out of unison, especially the string that is shared by two different notes.

By twangy or dull, it is because the vibrations start overlapping at a rate that annoys our ears or when the vibrations within the unison cancel each other out.

Offline lostinidlewonder

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Re: All three strings?
Reply #2 on: April 10, 2005, 07:15:04 AM
They do not detune themselves at the same rate, they move at a different because if you use the "soft" pedal you will be neglecting one of the strings when you strike them, so then of course two strings get hit more than that one and thus detune faster. You usually find that the left most string of the 3 holds its tune a lot longer, and the right most loses its sound faster.

The stings do not have to be EXACTLY vibrating at the same frequency, but very very close to. It has to be such that the pulse or beating effect that two sound waves slightly out of synchronisation with one another creates, is undetectable by our ear. When you strike a note you shouldn't be able to hear the sound "wavering". It should hold its note true and very clearly and in one sound, not pulsating. When the notes start to pulsate and the sound is not clean, thats when you need to tune. When notes start to sound obviously out of tune, then you are killing your piano lol. Seriously i believe it is killing yoru piano to keep it out of tune because if a piano is kept in tune it will hold its tune better and longer. Where a piano which is constantly out of tune, it will after being tuned lose its tune faster until a constant effort of tuning has been established and the strings accept the new tension they hold at.
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pocorina

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Re: All three strings?
Reply #3 on: April 11, 2005, 06:18:47 PM
They do not detune themselves...

Something about that "detune themselves" sounds SOOOOO CUTE!!! I want to hug my piano. Kiss it's keys, lined up in perfect chromatic beauty, like teeth. HEe hee

Offline Siberian Husky

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Re: All three strings?
Reply #4 on: April 13, 2005, 10:48:09 PM
Something about that "detune themselves" sounds SOOOOO CUTE!!! I want to hug my piano. Kiss it's keys, lined up in perfect chromatic beauty, like teeth. HEe hee

LMAO LOL WTH!!

i take mine out to movies..and tell her shes the only one in my life..then i go to my community college and play on a grand thats even more beautiful than the one at home..so im cheating on my piano with several others..im such a pimp..none of them know a thing
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