Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
A tension filled Humpday Triviola
Maybe it's the job...or the giant mug of caffeine on my desk but I feel tense this morning! But not as tense as a concert grand piano. (yes they are mostly wood instruments) So if you add up the amount of tension on all of the strings of a concert grand piano, how much combined tension would there be on that piano?
Tom
Re: A tension filled Humpday Triviola
How would the answer be quantified? Foot pounds? Excederin headache # 5? Telling you boss off? Enquiring minds want to know. By the way, I just watched Dirty Jobs segment on making a piano and it looked like most of the "artistry" if you will is in choosing the right wood for and creating the sounding board. Not sure if they had any facts on total tension, though. I wonder if it is on You Tube? Will you give us a high or low sign? OK. So here's my methodology for guessing. You have 64 keys (i.e. 64 strings) my ball park guess is that the lowest key has 100 pounds of tension on it and the highest key has 1000 pounds of tension on it. These are BIGTIME swags. I took the difference 900 pounds and divided it by 64 and came up with a difference of 14 pounds of tension as you go up each key. So I added 100+114+128+...all the way to 982 (figured that was close enough to 1000). I used a speadsheet (my moma didn't raise no fool). The total number of pounds of tension I got using this methodolgy was 34,624 pounds of tension. I have two trains of thought on this answer. Just looking at that number I am guessing it is way high, but, on the other hand, why would Mr. Skaggs ask the question if the answer wouldn't amaze and astound you. So, Mr. Skaggs, high or low?
Correct...and yet Wrong!
Jim,
It is far too early in the morning to be using so many brain cells. How do you do it?
You are correct in that the answer I seek is in pounds. However, I'm afraid that all your amazing calculations have led you to a wrong guess. And just between you and me (don't tell anyone else) your guess is low. Shhhhh!
Tom
Starting math
I was under the impression that a piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black.
Hit wrong button
The tension on the "strings" is relatively constant (I think) it is the thickness of the wire and the length of the "string" (wire) that makes the note. Which is why a piano is shaped like a piano. Also there are over 200 strings on a grand piano with some notes having more than one string. Total tension? But guessing and considering the short handled tensioning hammer used by tuners I'm guessing 100 pounds each so 200 x 100 = 20000
Uh, well Gary.........
....Jim guessed 36,000+ lbs and he was low. So since your guess is lower I'm gonna have to gong your answer!
Tom
Re: Google says:
A concert grand piano may have a combined string tension of up to 30 tons. : ' >
Thanks for the ? Tommy
Google Wins!
I guess I'll be sending a golden Uni to the fine folks at Google. ;-)
Yes, a concert grand piano has a combined string tension of 30 tons! That's a lot of tension man!
Tom
Re: Google Wins!
"So if you add up the amount of tension on all of the strings of a concert grand piano, how much combined tension would there be on that piano? "
Actually, the strings are in tension. The wood in the piano holding those strings is in compression. So the answer should be zero.