Research on Piano Hammers

Dr. Dan Russell
Associate Professor of Applied Physics
Kettering University, Flint, MI, USA

This page is an attempt to make accessible my research on the nonlinear behavior of piano hammers, and the effects of this nonlinearity on the hammer-string interaction. This research comprised the thesis for my Masters Degree in Applied Physics, under the direction of Dr. Thomas D. Rossing at Northern Illinois University. A somewhat technical summary of my piano hammer research was published in the European acoustics journal Acta Acustica. If you would like to read this more technical summary I would be happy to send you an electronic copy (PDF file). Just drop me an email: drussell@kettering.edu and send you a copy.

Piano Hammer Contents

The piano hammer as a nonlinear spring
Hammer nonlinearity, dynamics and the piano sound
- Coming Soon! - Sound files to accompany frequency spectra
Bibliography of piano hammer references
Coming Soon! - Vibration of a hammer-shank using modal analysis (animations)

Can you help me?

Much of the experimental work on hammers shown on this page was performed while I was a graduate student. During the last couple of years I have been pursuing other research interests (check out my Guitar Research page), but I would like to return to studying piano hammers, as there are still many things which are not clearly understood about the hammer-string interaction.

Due to a generous donation from Gibson Musical Instruments, the Kettering University Acoustics Laboratory is nicely stocked with scientific instruments needed to perform a wide variety of acoustical tests. What I need are some piano hammers, strings, and action parts to test. If you might have any extra of the following items laying around your workshop and you would be willing to let me borrow, or even keep, them so that I and my students could begin developing some experiments, please let me know (drussell@kettering.edu)

Model of a grand piano action - the type which might be found in piano show room to illustrate how the piano action works.
Piano hammers (with shank and roller attached)
- Bass, middle and treble - I'd need to know what notes (eg. A₁ or G₆)
- Different brands
- Different voicings - hard, soft (unused), properly voiced
Piano strings - bass, middle, and treble - I'd need to know what notes (eg. A₁ or G₆)

Check out the Piano Internet Resources List for loads of information about Pianos available on the WWW.

Back to the PTG Piano Page. Back to the UK Piano Page Back to Dan Russell's Home Page.

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