Hammer impact speed and mass trade off to shape a piano’s tone
Evidence
Inharmonicity on a piano increases as the strings become shorter, and therefore the octave stretching effect increases with note pitch. The stretching effect is usually related to middle C, and it becomes greater the further away the note of interest is in pitch. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1097 (
#expands, via linked claim)
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
Related
- Piano octave stretching grows with pitch as strings shorten (similarity 0.91)
- Octave stretching on pianos emerges directly from string inharmonicity (similarity 0.90)
- Piano octaves are stretched because lower notes’ overtones are inharmonic (similarity 0.85)
- Finite wire thickness raises higher piano partials, producing stretched harmonics (similarity 0.83)
- Slightly mistuned piano strings produce richer, longer-lasting sound (similarity 0.83)
- Real piano strings force a stretched tuning to avoid audible beats (similarity 0.83)
- Piano hammer bounce-back prevents it from damping string vibration (similarity 0.83)
- String stiffness raises the frequency of a piano’s higher modes relative to the fundamental. (similarity 0.82)
- Pianos are stretch-tuned so low notes sit flat and high notes sharp (similarity 0.81)
- Stretched partials give the piano its characteristic musical color (similarity 0.81)
- Moisture, cracking, and tension drift make every grand piano uniquely voiced over its lifetime (similarity 0.81)
- Pianos use multiple strings per note to improve energy transfer and loudness (similarity 0.80)
- Piano hammers strike strings two to three times per keypress (similarity 0.79)
- Piano hammers rebound and strike strings multiple times per note (similarity 0.79)
- A string’s stiffness raises its higher-frequency modes above the ideal values (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Piano octave stretching grows with pitch as strings shorten
#expands(0.72) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1097