Press Release: Announcing Publication of Pianos Inside Out

For Immediate Release

In Tune Press LLC
1134 Jensen Ave
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Tel: 985-276-0279
E-mail: info@intunepress.com
Website: http://www.pianosinsideout.com

Pianos Inside Out
8.5 x 11", 560 pages, black & white
Sew-wrap-bound paperback
761 illustrations, 84 equations, 15 tables
ISBN-13: 978-0-9827563-0-0
U.S. retail price: $80
Available: March 31, 2013 from www.pianosinsideout.com, 
through piano part suppliers, and at Amazon.com

In Tune Press, LLC, a publisher focused on music education and technology, is pleased to announce Pianos Inside Out, a new book by Mario Igrec, an award-winning pianist, piano technician, and rebuilder. Igrec takes an in-depth look at the history, design, and maintenance of the piano, and provides practical guidance to anyone who wants to learn how to tune, repair, regulate, voice, rebuild, or improve the action performance of pianos. The reader will discover how to evaluate the piano, assess what is needed, and develop a rebuilding plan. He or she will learn how to restore a keyboard and action, select and install new hammers, rebuild dampers, restring the piano, replace its pinblock, repair the soundboard, regild the plate, and refinish the case.

Covering a wide range of concepts, from introductory to advanced, Pianos Inside Out puts between two covers all the advancements and understanding gained by the piano industry over the last 30 years. It provides a coherent, in-depth view of that much-needed information, including such topics as:

- Wave impedance and soundboard performance
- Coincident partial tuning
- Interval inharmonicity
- Touchweight analysis
- String leveling
- Modern lubricants

Pianos Inside Out is written for hobbyists, students, and piano technicians, but it will also help pianists and owners of pianos to better understand their instruments and to communicate more effectively with their technicians. The book is full of clear, concise, step-by-step instructions, and more than 700 illustrations and diagrams. Featuring “Myth/Truth” boxes, and enhanced by multiple sidebars, tables, worksheets, and troubleshooters, the book is “very articulate, yet has a casual readability and isn’t off-puttingly wordy or overly complicated or presumptuously definitive” (Allen Wright, RPT, consulting technician and restorer for Steinway & Sons London, John Broadwood & Sons, and Period Piano Company).

Many books in this genre present a simplistic view of piano work, encouraging a casual and sometimes careless do-it-yourself attitude. Pianos Inside Out presents more accurate descriptions of—and warnings about—the complexities and pitfalls one is likely to encounter in this work, providing an “introduction to the profession and the scope of work involved that might encourage some people to become techs and others to forget about it” (Laurence Libin, Editor-in-Chief, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments).

Pianos Inside Out isn’t merely a book of recipes that regurgitates instructions from service manuals—rather, it shows how to create one’s own recipes. In addition to suggesting methods and specifications, Igrec discusses the reasons for and the dependencies among various aspects of design, regulation, tuning, and voicing, thus enabling the reader to draw his or her own conclusions while gaining a deep understanding of this complex subject. 

The accompanying website, www.pianosinsideout.com, offers full-text search and a complete Table of Contents, Index, Glossary, and Bibliography, as well as lists of trade resources, technicians’ organizations, and measurement conversions. The site also offers bonus materials and a clickable, up-to-date list of the URLs that appear throughout the book. Intended to be a reference resource for years to come, Pianos Inside Out provides insight into the profession of piano tuning, repairing, and rebuilding to a breadth and depth unmatched by any other publication.

About the Author

Mario Igrec, a native of Croatia, taught piano technology and served as piano technician during his eight-year tenure at Louisiana State University. As an independent concert technician and master rebuilder, he has serviced and rebuilt many pianos in southern Louisiana, and has worked for Richard Goode, Jon Kimura Parker, Garrick Ohlsson, and other renowned pianists. Himself an award-winning pianist, with a Master of Music degree from SUNY Stony Brook, Igrec brings to the field a unique perspective that bridges piano technology and pianism. For more, see http://pianosinsideout.com/author.html.

Advance Praise for Pianos Inside Out

“Fantastic job. Very well thought out. The book will be of great help.”
    —Franz Mohr, former Chief Concert Technician, Steinway & Sons

“Pianos Inside Out, in its scope, breadth, and depth, is truly astonishing. I know of no other single book in our field that covers so much of piano technology in such detail. If I could have only one book in my piano-technology library, this would have to be it. I know firsthand how much time and work go into the writing and production of a book, and it’s hard for me to imagine how many hours you must have invested in this book—really more like an encyclopedia—thus far.”
    —Stephen Brady, RPT, author, Under the Lid; Head Piano Technician, Aspen Music Festival & School

“Very comprehensive and full of valuable information. Pianists should read it! Just the observation on humidity alone would help to improve the quality of our instruments.”
    —Paul Badura-Skoda  

“I can appreciate the vast amount of thought and effort that went into making the text so detailed and comprehensive. It is especially good coming from an experienced pianist who understands the player’s needs. . . . It is good that you mention so many different manufacturers’ designs, because many people think that all pianos are alike. Your appendices and index are most helpful. Thank you again for teaching me so much about the piano.”
    —Laurence Libin, Editor-in-Chief, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments; Research Curator Emeritus of Musical Instruments, Musical Instrument Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Your undertaking fills a crying need, bringing together some of the advances in the past three decades as part of a comprehensive treatment of the profession, and trying to make things accessible to non-technicians. You have gathered a really impressive array of material. [The book] provides a considerable service.”
    —Fred Sturm, RPT, pianist and piano technician, University of New Mexico

“You’ve taken an excellent stab at dealing with the geometry/touchweight issue in grands. It is a more complete discussion for a beginner than can be had in any volume I know of.”
    —Jim Ialeggio, RPT, piano rebuilder, Grand Piano Solutions

“This looks terrific. Very modern information. I am especially thrilled about the inharmonicity discussion; I think it is the most clear and accurate [account] that has ever been published for the lay-person crowd.”
    —Dave Carpenter, RPT, designer of Verituner® 

“An impressive piece of work, a very comprehensive body of information. Its sheer volume of information is a credit to your due diligence. Very well done. It is obvious that you are attempting to do a fair assessment of many parts, techniques, and protocols. I think you have succeeded.”
    —Dale Erwin, RPT, concert technician, piano rebuilder, Erwin’s Piano Restoration Inc.

“What a piece of work! I can appreciate the energy you have put into it. I think you’ve done a very fine job.”
    —David Stanwood, RPT, inventor of Precision TouchDesign™ and Stanwood Adjustable Leverage Action™, Stanwood Piano Innovations

“Very, very nice work . . . A lot of information and details.”
    —Christian Bolduc, Factory Manager, Pianos Bolduc

“[The book is] wonderfully comprehensive. The illustrations and layout are fantastic. . . . The information . . . is uniformly balanced, and excellent. . . . It looks like a sort of encyclopedia of pianos and piano construction and service.
    “I’m reading the chapter on touch and geometry closely, and it’s excellent; the great service your book will provide is to make these ideas understandable as a whole. Thanks for your explanation of why reps with assist springs can cause slower repetitions.
    “Our field is so full of unexamined myths! Your book should help in that regard. 
    “One problem with learning things in bits and pieces over the years, through various individual articles, classes, etc.—and often receiving contradictory opinions and information—is that it’s not necessarily conducive to a holistic understanding of the action as a system. Which is one thing I think your book could help to overcome for many readers.”
    —Allen Wright, RPT, consulting technician and restorer for Steinway & Sons London, John Broadwood & Sons, and Period Piano Company

“This is quite a comprehensive piece and a testament to not only a lot of hard work, but your love of the subject matter.”
    —Anthony Gilroy, Director of Marketing & Communications, Steinway & Sons

“I can’t imagine a more thorough and definitive book on the subject than this. It’s a must for every pianist’s and piano technician’s library. I see this book as also being written from a pianist’s perspective. Mario Igrec always conveys a sense of what we pianists want from an instrument and the kind of sound we want to make.” 
    —Marioara Trifan, pianist, conductor, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich, Germany

“Quite an ambitious undertaking. All in all, there is a huge amount of info in this book, congratulations.”
    —Edward Foote, RPT, piano technician, historical tuning specialist, Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music

“Very in-depth and thorough . . . it is by far the most informative and instructive publication out there.”
    —Mike Morvan, keyboard maker and restorer, Blackstone Valley Piano

“Quite a book. You did a great job!”
    —Greg Frank, Piano Service Specialist, Yamaha Corporation of America, Bösendorfer USA

“This is the most complete book on piano technology that I have ever read. What a great accomplishment! Thank you for making such an amazing contribution to piano technology.”
    —Poppy Miles, RPT, independent piano technician, New Orleans, Louisiana

“I’m surprised by how many interesting things there are in [this book] for everybody, from beginners to advanced technicians. It’s great that you wrote all of this down and collected it in one book. . . . I think it will give everybody a very good idea of our profession, and a lot of instructions.”
    —Alexander Abel, piano technician (Klavierbauer), graduate of Oscar Walcker Schule, technical college for music-instrument building, Ludwigsburg, Germany

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments  ix

About the Author  xiii

Introduction  xv
How to Use This Book  xvi
Online Resources  xvi
Patent Search  xvi
Precautions  xvi
Materials and Products  xvii
Terminology  xvii
Conventions  xviii

Chapter 1: History  1
The Early Piano  1
Rising Popularity 1760–1800  8
Advances in Technology 1800–1850  11
Almost Modern 1850–1900  13
Steinway since 1880  16
Market Trends  16

Chapter 2: Construction and Design  19
Overview of Construction  19
Structure  24
Generating Sound  33
Strings  33
Bridges  36
Soundboard  43
Plate  50
The Piano Mechanism  57
Keyboard  58
Piano Action  63
Piano Hammers  70
Dampers, Backaction, and Pedals  74
How the Piano Mechanism Works  76

Chapter 3: Maintenance  83
Environment  83
Preventing Damage by Insects and Rodents  88
Preventing Corrosion  89
Periodic Maintenance  89
Institutional Maintenance  90

Chapter 4: Tuning  93
Theory  94
Inharmonicity  101
Stretch  103
Tuning Technique   107
Choosing a Tuning Hammer  109
Learning to Tune  111
Electronic Tuning  124
Special Tuning Techniques  128
Factors that Affect Tuning  129

Chapter 5: Regulating  135
Protection  135
Gaining Access  136
Cleaning the Interior of the Piano  141
Work in the Piano or on the Bench?  141
Guide Notes  142
Friction  142
Grand Action and Keyboard: Evaluating and Preparing for Regulation  148
Regulating Keyboard (Grands and Verticals)  158
Regulating Action  166
Regulating Grand Action  166
Regulating Pedals in Grands  179
Regulating Grand Damper System  180
Regulating Vertical Action, Pedals, and Dampers  189

Chapter 6: Voicing  199
Sanding Hammers  200
Strings: Seating and Leveling  202
Mating Hammers to Strings  207
Functioning of the Piano Hammer  208
Preparing for Voicing  208
Voicing Down Dense Hammers  209
Voicing Up the Hammers  216

Chapter 7: Repairs   221
Tool Kit  221
Broken String  223
Removing a Piece of Broken Metal  233
Repairing Keys  234
Repairing Action  240
Repairing Dampers  248
Repairing Grand Pedals and Lyre  249
Repairing Vertical Pedals  252
Repairing Cracked Plate  253
Repairing Pinblock  254
Repairing Bridges  256
Repairing Rattling Soundboard  261
Extracting a Broken Agraffe  262
Touching up and Repairing Finish  263

Chapter 8: Moving a Grand Piano  267
Music Rack, Fallboard, Key Slip  267
Grand Lids  268
Putting Piano on Skid Board  268
Reassembling the Piano  270
Grand Lyre  271

Chapter 9: Touch, Geometry, Playability  273
How to Proceed  274
Force or Weight?  274
Interrelated Aspects of Action and Keyboard  275
Static Touchweight (TW)  276
Action Leverage  279
Hammer Weight  283
Other Weights and Weight Ratios  287
Leads: Measuring and Calculating  295
Inertia  298
Backaction  300
Keeping It All in Perspective  301
Diagnosing Playability Problems  303
Improving Playability  306

Chapter 10: Rebuilding  317
Evaluating a Piano  321
Developing a Plan  323
Shop Requirements  327
Equipment and Tools  329
Materials  334
Replacing Felts and Leathers  340
Rebuilding the Keyboard  342
Restoring Key Frame  344
Replacing Key Bushings  347
Replacing Key End Felts  353
Replacing White Key Tops  354
Replacing Sharps  365
Rebuilding Grand Backchecks  368
Rebuilding Grand Action  373
Replacing Wippens and Let off Buttons in Grands  379
Replacing Grand Hammer Shanks  380
Replacing Hammers in Grand Pianos  383
Rough-Regulating a Grand Action  394
Adjusting Touchweight  396
Rebuilding Grand Damper System  400
Rebuilding Vertical Action  408
Measuring String Downbearing  416
Restringing  418
Restringing a Grand Piano  423
Restringing a Vertical Piano  430
Removing the Plate  433
Agraffes: Reconditioning and Replacing  436
Regilding the Plate  439
Replacing Grand Pinblock  440
Rebuilding the Soundboard  457
Rebuilding Bridges  472
Introduction to Refinishing  479

Appendix A: Troubleshooting  489
Buzzes and Rattles  489
Echo  490
Action Noises  490
Pedal Noises in Grands  492
Pedal Noises in Verticals  493
Missing Notes  494

Appendix B: Glossary  495

Appendix C: Selected Bibliography   509
Books, Articles, Videos, Online Resources  509
Journals  516
Online Groups and Forums  516

Appendix D: Resources  517

Appendix E: Technicians’ Organizations  523

Appendix F: Measurement Conversions  525

Index  527