For music instrument makers it is not always easy to innovate. Players may be reluctant to try out newly designed instruments, or the knowledge on instrument making may have been the same for over 150 decades. Piano builder David Klavins developed his own approach towards piano building by experimenting with old pianos. His approach aims to create a softer and warmer sound than conventional pianos, based on the idea to use a single string per hammer - the una corda principle. 

 

As a piano restorer, Klavins had an interest in the variety in design amongst pre-modern pianos. While initially having worked “in a piano store as a tuner and as a technician (…) during those two years I found out that all those piano dealers actually disregarded the old pianos very much as junk” (All quotes are from the interview with Klavins unless specified otherwise). Dissatisfied with this attitude towards old pianos, Klavins started working on his own in 1976, as a self-employed piano restorer. 


And it was actually then, during the next close to ten years, from ’76, while I was rebuilding old pianos, that there were so many differences in many regards – string scaling, soundboard design, action of course - but I was mainly interested in the acoustic side of these pianos. So, I did a lot of in-depth digging and research of my own, trying to find out what those differences mean and how those differences come to be, and that was the time when I realized, that actually the piano as it is built today is far from being complete in any way, I mean from being perfect. 


Imbued with a disregard for the idea of the modern piano as a piano that cannot be improved, Klavins asked himself what he considers to be the “core questions” of piano design. “What kind of sound would you like to achieve, what kind of design” and “does it necessarily have to be a grand piano design? Or could it even be better, or (…) superior to that one – in the case you are willing to change.” Led by these core questions, Klavins started to look for knowledge on the effects of different variables on the sound that is achieved. 


For reasons described elsewhere, it is inconceivable to experiment with piano design by making prototypes. Still, Klavins developed feelings of contempt for existing knowledge as it was taught at instrument maker schools and he did not see any use in “trying to approach the subject from the angle of those principles that were spread in the typical piano builders’ literature.” His solution was to develop his own approach by measuring the impact of a number of variables on the resulting sound himself. 


My only source was my practical work. So it was all empirical. (...) I applied changes, I listened to what kind of result those changes would have (…). As I had lots of materials with the old pianos that I got, I often did restringing of pianos. 

Restringing allowed him to make slight changes in the string scale of which he then measured the effects. He explains further: 


I discovered the value of calculating all the physical factors of string scale - piano string scale - by utilizing the very first program for calculators. I analyzed the old string scale by measuring all the physical data - length, thickness, relation copper/steel. (…) And then I recalculated those scales, put on the new strings and listened to the piano, what happened. How much and to what extent would this improve the piano sound and in which regard.


Based on experiments like these he developed his “own thinking” and his “own feel” about how the piano should be designed and “what is happening in the piano.” Old pianos thus acted as a repository of knowledge for Klavins to develop his single-strung approach. In 1987, he applied these findings for the first time by building a novel piano, the Klavins-Piano Model 370. This piano is “the world’s biggest piano: its soundboard has twice the size of a concert grand of 2,75 m.” The piano is 3.7 meters high and is accessible to an attached staircase. The central idea is that the increased size allows it to be single-strung without having to compromise on loudness. Its design aimed to afford the clarity of single-strung pianos, with the loudness of grand pianos. The 370 gathered much attention and its sound has been recorded for use in digital pianos, sold as The Giant. Moreover, eighteen musicians have recorded an album on it, among whom Nils Frahm (Kirn, 2014). 

 

References

 

  • Kirn, P. (2014). Acoustic Revelation: Inside the Una Corda, the 100kg, 21st Century Piano Built for Nils Frahm.Create Digital Music. Retrieved from: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2014/06/acoustic-revelation-inside-una-chorda-100kg-21st-century-piano-built-nils-frahm/
     

A different approach to piano building