Showing posts with label Bluthner Patent Action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bluthner Patent Action. Show all posts

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Regulating a Bluthner Action in a Bluthner Grand

Up until about 1918 Bluthner used their own Patent Action in their pianos. For a grand piano, this action was strikingly different from the more standard ‘Roller’ action. Regulating these actions cannot be done by trying to apply the procedure used for the roller action. 
These instructions are based on a leaflet produced as a guide to regulating these pianos. Some familiarity with these actions is absolutely necessary before attempting this work.

The necessary operations must be carried out strictly in the following order. The fitting of the Bluthner Action is based on a tough depth of 9 mm and a hammer-blow of 45 mm.

1. The hammer heads should be spaced exactly to the strings and the hammer-flange screws should be tightened.

2. Setting-up. The guide-pin of the abstract must be straight and vertical. The jack must be so adjusted - by means of the carriage which is screwed on to the key, that it drops quite easily under the nose of the abstract.

3.Set-off. The hammers should release 1.5 mm from the steel strings and half a string thickness from the bass strings - the set-off screws are situated on the hammer-rest rail.

4. Touch. Contrary to the Erard Action, the touch is made quite firm. The key is depressed slowly on to the touch-baize, after which the hammer should continue to rise 1 mm up to the set-off point. Only on striking the key strongly will the hammer be caught by the back check. (No after-touch).


Bluthner Patent Action
5. The checks must be cranked and spaced equally. The checks must each be parallel and central to the hammer woodwork. Now the hammers are checked. There is no special height but it should be about 24 mm above the hammer line. 

6. Drop. The guide pin of the abstract must move easily in the bridge leathers so that the abstract drops of its own weight. The repetition springs must move freely in the abstract felt clips and by pressure of either side of the right-angle spring, the drop is controlled. The hammerhead should drop down 3 mm after setting-off.

7. It is now necessary again to check the touch throughout.


The abstract
8. The dampers should lift when the keys are half depressed.

9. The damper shade-rail has to be adjusted so that when pressing down the sharps, there is very little play.

10. The coiled spring which is attached to the abstract should, in the normal position of the key, not rest on the jack, but remain about 3 mm from it. An even touch is of the greatest importance.

Technical File

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Pianology

Friday 22 August 2014

Bluthner Pianos

At Leipzig, in 1853 Julius Bluthner began making pianos. The qualities of Bluthner Pianos soon won them recognition among the great names of the piano trade and among the Royal Courts of numerous countries - Queen Victoria, the Russian Tsar and many others owned Bluthner Pianos!

Julius Bluthner worked hard at creating a network of international contacts to ensure he could establish a truly global demand for his pianos. Here in the UK, Whelpdale, Maxwell & Codd was founded in 1876 - purely to import Bluthner Pianos.
After surviving the First World War, and then the Great Depression, the business suffered a severe blow when, during the Second World War, their factory was bombed in an air raid in 1943. The difficult, East German politics of the time meant recovery was very slow. However, production of Bluthner Pianos began once more in 1948.

The firm was nationalised in the 1970s but in 1990, the business was given back to the Bluthner family.

People still talk about the ‘Bluthner’ tone! The beauty of a good piano is found in its tone - Somehow, the Bluthner pianos, more often than not, seemed to get it right! Solidly built to last, many Bluthner pianos, 100 years old or more, are still being used and often still sounding as clear and pure as ever. People love them!

For a while Bluthners used their own Patent Action - vastly different from what has become the standard ‘roller’ action. These patent actions used a slightly shallower touch, but when working properly are, even now, a delight to play! 

Another notable innovation was the ‘Aliquot’ system: a 4th string was given to the upper two thirds of the treble strings. This 4th string was not struck by the hammer but was left to pick up the vibrations of the notes ‘sympathetically’ - the result was a very subtle extra layer of harmonic overtones. Quality has a voice of its own! In a Bluthner Piano, this voice is always in good form!


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