the keyboard compass to 102 keys. It is claimed that Paulello strings produce a wider spectrum and enhance a more stable harmonic balance within the sound of each note.17
Wayne Stuart, the maker of Stuart & Sons pianos, claims the bridge agraffe produces a more vertically controlled string vibration than the modern piano. He states that the bridge agraffe eliminates the the need for the traditional down-bearing force of the string onto the bridge and soundboard, and influences the string to vibrate with improved clarity and sustain.He also claims that the Stuart string vibration generates a different vibration in the lighter, thinner soundboard, radiating a new omni directional18 soundscape from the piano.19
Vertical string coupling is at the core of the Stuart & Sons design concept.
A special device (agraffe) is used to couple the strings to the bridge and soundboard structure. The agraffe defines the string’s speaking length
(frequency) and contains the reaction forces produced by bending the strings as they pass through it. This negates the need for string down bearing that is required in the traditional pinned bridge system. The soundboard can thus be designed on a speaker cone principle and not as a load bearing structure as is the case in the standard piano. This scientifically designed device encourages the strings to vibrate in a more controlled manner improving the dynamic range, increasing sustain and significantly improving tonal clarity sympathetic to the entire piano repertoire.20
The first Stuart & Sons concert grand pianos were made in 1995. Since then, the Stuart piano has been a frequent subject of inquiry and fascination in the Australian and international arts community and media. Wayne Stuart was a piano technician of international experience before he started designing pianos. In 1975, he won a scholarship to study with Yamaha in Japan, the largest maker of pianos in the world. He then went on to observe the more traditional techniques of five European piano makers.
“I realised that nothing was happening anywhere, it was just reproductions, all the piano makers were dead and I felt very strongly that if the piano wasn’t rethought, it would die too,” he says.21
Stuart’s comment ‘all the piano makers were dead’suggests to me his frustration at the complacent viewthat ‘all pianos were alike because the instrument has reached its final form and is a perfectly finished product’.22 Stuart’s comment also reveals his determination to reinstate the by-gone eraphenomenon of the hand crafted piano.In his book Men Women and Pianos,Arthur Loesser describes the beginning-of-the-end of the handcrafted piano-making era in the mid 1800s,as a time when the legendary piano makers Henri Steinway and Jonas Chickering, whilst still continuing their craft of piano building,were operating as executive heads of their large companies. An episode involving the the young English pianist Richard Hoffman is recounted in the book, where having just
17Arno Patin, “ArnoPianos.”http://www.arnopianos.com/#!piano-wire–rescaling/cfm1accessed August 2014.
18Opus Dissonus, “Artur Cimirro-The Documentary.”YouTube video, 1:25:33. 2013, (1:06:43-1:07:34) www.arturcimirro.com.br&www.opusdissonus.com.br
19Wayne Stuart,“Innovations”Stuart & Sons Handcrafted Pianos,http://www.stuartandsons.com/innovations.html 14th May 2015,http://www.stuartandsons.com/innovations.html
20 2Wayne Stuart “Innovations.”
21“Sunday”.Beethoven, Stuart & Gerard Willems Making History. Channel Nine, (Sydney, NSW: TCN 9, November 15, 1998).
22 2Paulello, “concept page” websiteaccessed 19 June 2013.
