Visiting the piano coil workshop in Hamamatsu!

In the hot Summer of July Mr Saito took us to visit the piano bass string workshop in Hamamatsu.

But why do we have to make twisted strings?

The bass strings of the piano need to fit the “Stuttgart” frame and so need to be order made. The mid range and high range strings can be created with just one string so the length can be freely adjusted, but for the bass strings, in order to create a good quality sound must be made thicker. In order to achieve this the piano string creates a core around which copper wire is wound. Please have a look at your piano if you have one at home! On the left hand side the strings are all orange right?

This.

The copper wire is wound all along the piano string and depending on the required pitch the thickness is different and also has to be adjusted to the string length and the size of the piano frame.

Apparently large piano manufacturers have their own machines for making the copper coiling, but according to Mr Saito depending on the tautness of the coil the sound is different, so in order to get the perfect sound it is better to do by hand.

And for that reason we made our way to the small workshop in Hamamatsu.

On a day of blue skies, white clouds and green fields we travelled to Hamamatsu, and after passing through tea fields and lakes, we began to see more signs of inhabitation with houses and factories appearing around, sighting the buildings around Hamamatsu station from afar.

In this historic place for Japanese pianos, we saw this sign post!
Taking a veer away from the bustling streets, we enter into the depths of a small lane and come across the small workshop surrounded by conifer trees. According to Mr Saito there are only 3 such workshops left in Japan.

In the right corner was a long machine, for hand turning the coils, while further inside was a machine for automatic turning. In the opposite shelf were stacks of rusty orange colored base strings. On the low shelf were boxes of coiled copper each of a different thickness.

Further in there is a machine for making the loops from which to connect the strings.

All of these machines have been made by the director of the workshop Mr Tomita and are dedicated to the work of producing piano string coiling. In front of us we see lots of long iron pipes piled together, and if you look closely there is a sacred rope hung upon them…

In the inner left shelf are piano strings looking like cheese wrapped in paper. Apparently it is best to keep them in as near perfect circular forms as possible. These strings have been imported after close examination of their quality and accuracy. When it comes to making the piano coils, these strings are released from their packages and stretched to a straight line and kept in the iron poles.

After showing us around, Mr Tomita treats us to an introduction of how the coils are actually made. First of all the string is pulled through the machine from right to left and fixed in place. Then after careful judgment the starting point of the copper coil is decided and coiling begins.

Switching on the machine its starts up and the string begins to spin and Mr Tomita in a half standing position carefully coils the copper wire, moving slowly from left to right. His concentration and pose make him look most like an athlete and all around him hold their breath. This work will affect the string’s sound through its tension and thickness of the coil.

In just 1 minute a single coil has been completed, but to reach this point has taken years of learning and experience. A piano consists of many parts, combining many technologies including iron founding and woodwork, but attention to detail has to be paid even down to a single string. But unfortunately there seems no opportunity of passing on this trade and knowledge to the next generation.

After watching the process behind the production of perfect sound for an instrument we took our leave of Mr Tomita and made our way to the Hamamatsu Instrument Museum, a must visit with a wide collection of keyboard instruments from around the world and covering different eras.

Mr Saito shared his knowledge of such instruments with us as we made the rounds of the museum and encountered Yamaha’s first organ and Matsumoto Instruments’ grand piano. And we continue on our journey in the restoration of a single upright piano.