Piano Tuner West Virginia on the Types of Wood in a Piano

As your piano tuner West Virginia and the surrounding areas, I am occasionally asked about the types of wood used in a piano. The prevailing belief is that a piano would be made out of a single type of wood. Just the opposite is true. Several types of wood are used in each piano. Their location is determined by the stresses and needs of each particular structure.

We will start with the case of the piano; that is, the outside portion. On a grand piano that is universally a layered wood. The term plywood has the connotation of being poor quality, which is not true for these structures. Because of the curves of a grand piano, a solid wood could not be used. Layers of thin pieces of wood are stacked with wet glue between them. they are then put into a press that determines the bent shape of the piano case. The glue is then allowed to dry, or in some brands it is electrically stimulated to dry fast, holding the piano rim in the desired bent shape.

Upright pianos do not have a bent shape, so the previous process is not used. Usually they are made of flat pieces of layered wood, although some less expensive pianos use fiber board.

The soundboards of most pianos are made of Sitka spruce from Alaska. This wood has been found to transmit sound waves faster along its grain than other types of wood. A typical soundboard is 3/8″ thick with ribs glued across the grain of the wood to create a convex, or “crowned” shape that is a live vibrating surface. The piano soundboard is what amplifies the sound of the strings. If you look at the soundboard of your piano, you will see that the grain runs perpendicular to the piano strings. This design spreads the sound more quickly across the entire soundboard, since sound runs more quickly with the grain of the wood than across it.

Our next post will discuss the types of wood used in the mechanical portion of pianos. If you have any questions about pianos, please let us know. We are your West Virginia piano tuning and the surrounding areas experts.