Hot answers tagged construction
11
The fatter bass strings move a lot more air when they're hit with the hammers in the piano, so they produce more volume of sound.
The short thin strings at the top do not, so having more of them compensates. Also, they sound richer when more are played. Think of an orchestra - not many double basses, but quite a few violins.
With one thin string or ten, ...
4
In addition to Tim's answer, a correctly tuned piano actually de-tunes the group of strings on each note a teensy bit. This leads to resonant energy transfer back and forth among the strings, which improves sustain as well as sounding more pleasing to (most) ears.
Keep in mind that "volume of air moved" does not translate linearly to "volume of sound," ...
3
The simple answer from a historical perspective is that valves on brass instruments were an addition to simple coiled horns like the bugle and hunting horn. It's kind of counterintuitive to add something in order to take away something; why not add something that adds something? Add the valve, and add its pipe; with the valve not depressed, the instrument is ...
2
The pitch of a string is roughly inversely proportional of its length, the square root of its mass per unit length, and the square root of its "average" tension (the term "average" referring to a complicated weighted average, as opposed to an arithmetic mean). In order for the pitch of a string to remain reasonably constant as the vibrational amplitude ...
1
I de-fretted my jazz bass fingerboard using a soldering iron to heat the frets, helping the wood to release them. I'd tape on either side of the fret to protect the fingerboard itself, and then gently rock the fret back and forth until it freed from the rosewood and pulled out. The operation was very successful and my fingerboard is not damaged in any way. ...
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