Fire at the Gabler Factory - Epilogue

One month later after the fire, the owner Ernst Gabler settled with his insurance company and began the task of rebuilding his factory himself. He expects to have the roof on his new building in eight

days, and to be moved in and at work again in his old quarters within three weeks. His customers have all remained with him as we predicted, and after the old factory is in running order again he will commence operations for erecting a new factory on the three vacant lots adjoining the original

building.

An Alfred Dolge Interview in 1881, Published in an 1881 MTR Magazine

Anything worth printing to-day?" one of our reporters asked while 
looking in at Alfred Dolge's office the other day, and a spirit of

mischief made him add: ''besides that bashful Sounding Board Advertisement

of yours?" That was too much, of course, and before he knew it, he

found himself in the sanctum, where Mr. A. D. unbosomed himself in his

usual drastic style.

" See here, sir, if an advertisement is to show what a man can do and is

doing, I should like to see one that is more to the point than mine. The

truth of my figures (which, by the way, never lie, you know) I can show

you from my books any moment, and if you will take the trouble of a trip

to Brocketts, you will see enough of the finest spruce there to make

my 41,000 Boards of 1880 twice over! I will just give you a nutshell full

of the fine points to which I have brought this industry, and then you will

understand its fabulously rapid growth."

Since I am cutting my stuff in my own forests, it pays best for the

present as well as for the future, to select only the largest and entirely

sound and straight trees; if I had to buy the stuff in the log, I could not,

of course, control the quality as I do now. Of every tree only the butt log

(the lowest 13 feet) is taken for sounding boards, no matter how clear and

tempting the next 13 feet look, because only this lower end is habitually and

constitutionally free from knots, wind shakes, cross grain and a dozen other

immoralities, of which you editors never dream. After sawing, the planks

are piled under open sheds and exposed to the sharp, dry, piercing winds of

our mountains for one or two years, which gives a most wonderful and

thorough seasoning without affecting the texture of the stuff. When

thoroughly seasoned, the boards are planed and edged, dried again for a few

weeks in steam-heated kilns, and then assorted according to length, width,

color, grain and other qualities, ready for use. This assorting, which is

performed by experts with admirably keen and quick eyes, is one of the

most important features of the whole work. Each lot contains several thousand

feet of faultless spruce of exactly uniform quality and size, so that the

men who ' match' or lay out the sounding boards,—experts again of ripe

judgment and unerring eye—are bound to make any number of boards absolutely

alike as long as they use the same lots of stuff. After gluing, which

is done with the best material obtainable and facilitated by several ingenious

machines specially got up for the purpose, the boards are tested, cut into

shape and pass through the planers,—unique machines again—where they

receive any thickness and taper desired, together with a highly finished surface.

This done, they are subjected to a final close examination and are then

ready for shipment. The test just mentioned consists in exposing a good

sample (say 6 or 12 boards) of each lot to a heat of 180 degrees Fahrenheit in a

steam-heated box for a few days. If they stand this without showing the slightest

effect, they are good; but if they crack or show any alteration, the entire

lot, which they represent, is put back for further seasoning until it stands the

test. So you see, complaints in this direction are well-nigh an impossibility.

The cases, especially those destined for export, are made as nearly air-tight

as possible, to keep out the moist air, and generally arrive in perfect order."

"Another good point in my favor is that I am a practical piano maker

myself, and have, with these my hands, made many a hundred sounding

boards in my day, all of which, I trust, are still doing duty and giving satisfaction.

So I know exactly what is needful, and have personally instructed

my foremen accordingly. Moreover, even now, when everything goes like

clockwork at the mills, and I am still waiting for the first word of complaint

about one of the forty-one thousand boards shipped last year, I never fail to

spend half a day or so in the sounding board department once a week, or

whenever I come to Brocketts, and to examine most critically into every

detail, down to the very glue brushes. That is what gives a man the right

feeling to stand up for h.s work if necessary. And the men like it too, I

assure you; for every one of them is ambitious and does his best. Why?

Because whenever I get favorable reports or other acknowledgments from my

customers abroad or here, I take the letters up to the factory and read them to

the men, and each one gets his due of the credit us well as of the more substantial

results.

" Where all these boards go? It would be easier to tell you where they

do not go. They go to about every place where there is a good piano made,

and where progress is appreciated.

" But now don't let me detain you any longer, sir; there is a nice half

column for you, and a good match to that advertisement you were pleased to

criticize just now. Good-bye!"

The Establishment of a Standard Pitch

Through what means was the standard pitch established? What force made it possible to establish and maintain a set standard pitch? Out of all groups who were subjected to the contradictions existing in pitch, those confronting the piano tuners were the greatest. It was only natural therefore, that from this source an attempt would be made to reach an agreement on pitch standard.

Upon the occasion of the 15th National Convention of the National Association of Piano Tuners, Inc. at Milwaukee in 1924, its membership passed a resolution calling for the standardization of pitch. It reads as follows:

WHEREAS members of this association are vitally interested in the question of a standard of musical pitch, and
WHEREAS a most deplorable confusion now exists in regard to this standard, as among manufacturers, musicians, tuners and the musical world in general, and further
WHEREAS attempts have been made by various groups to commit the musical world generally to a new standard, therefore be it
RESOLVED that this association, as directly and vitally interested, both theoretically and practically, in this question, declares it to be one which no group save one representing every interest in the world of music - artistic, scientific, and commercial - can possibly be competent to decide; further be it
RESOLVED that this association, desiring to do what it can do to clarify the present dangerous and deplorable confusion in the standard of pitch, hereby directs its president to communicate with the Music Industry Chamber of Commerce, informing that body that this association desires to have called together a national conference representing the interests of manufacturers of all musical instruments, musicians, tuners, and the United States Government, which may explore the whole question and make upon it an authoritive (sic) and final pronouncement to the end that a satisfactory standard of musical pitch may be forever established; lastly be it
RESOLVED that the membership of the National Association of Piano Tuners pledges itself faithfully to observe all technical requirements of such a standard when it has been authoritavely (sic) adopted and established.

Mr. Richard Lawrence, then president of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, was so impressed with the importance and the seriousness of the proposal that he appointed a committee to look into the practicality of it and named the president of the National Association of Piano Tuners, Charles Deutchman, as chairman of that committee.

It was indeed an exhaustive study, too long to be recounted here, as to the discussions and meetings that were performed in pursuit of standard pitch. In short, all affected branches of the Music Industries were represented and every possible point of view presented. Questionnaires were mailed out and answers were received with commendable promptness from all affected parties. It was apparent from the first that all concerned were conscious of the importance of the matter and also recognized the great need for action. Considering the vastness of their task, the committee arrived at their proposal in a very short time. Their recommendation? A-440 at 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, the labors of the committee were not over, for this same committee was then authorized to supervise the construction of a set of absolutely accurate standard tuning forks for A-440 at 68 Degrees Fahrenheit; said forks to represent the pitch known as A4, being the A above middle C on the keyboard, or the second space of treble clef. These forks were to be three in number - one to be deposited in the U.S. Bureau of Standards in Washington DC, one to be deposited in the central office of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, and one with the National Headquarters of the National Association of Piano Tuners, Inc. It was decided that there was need for an additional C fork of the corresponding pitch, rated at 523.23 because of the general practice at that time of most of the tuners of the NAPT using that as its starting point for laying the bearings. The ratings of these master forks was entrusted to Dr. Dayton Miller of the Case School of Applied Sciences, who also was the president of the American Physical Society, whose acoustical laboratory was the most complete in the US for the work at hand. The Case School was also appointed the task of comparison and correction of said forks. It can be said that, to the credit of the entire industry, without exception, they all complied promptly, submitting their forks for corrections.

Instrument makers were forced to spend considerably to make their instruments conform to the new standard. The organ and piano builders, not so much. We do not realize what an enormous task it was to accomplish the standard of musical pitch that we have today, and what they had to go through to complete the task. This article will put into some perspective that task which was successfully implemented.

A Brief History Before the Establishment of Standard Pitch, or Why a Standard Pitch Was So Important

For a clear understanding of the pitch problem, I have outlined a short history of the upward trend of pitch over a period of nearly two centuries. The information up to about 1880 was taken from "Helmoltz's Sensation of Tone". From that time to just prior to the establishment of a standard pitch (1925), I took the data as presented by Richard Kamperman president of the former organization of piano technicians, known as the National Association of  Piano Tuners to create the following scenario:

"The members of the National Association of Piano Tuners (NAPT), were the authors of the resolution that brought about the end of the chaos that existed in the matter of musical pitch prior to June 11, 1925.

"Historical pitches from the lowest to the highest: (there were other pitches used during these periods, but the following pitches exerted influence only at their particular institutions and on persons in the same musical environment). It is interesting to note the steady rise of pitch of the various tuning forks.

PITCH                 YEAR              DESCRIPTION

A-384.3                1700               A tuning fork of an early church, origin unknown.

A-423.5                1751               Fork of Handel

A-415.0                1754               Roman Catholic church organ in Dresden.

A-420.1                1780               Winchester College organ.

A-421.6                1780               Fork of Stein, who made Mozart's pianos and forks.

A-424.6                1800               Dr. Steiner's fork, used in Plymouth Theater

A-427.0                1811               Paris Grand Opera

A-433.0               1820               London fork, approved by Sir Geo. Smart, conductor of Philharmonic concerts.

A-434.0                1829              Paris Opera.
A-435.0                1829              Dresden Opera.
A-436.5                1834              Vienna Opera.
A-440.2                1834              Stuttgart pitch, Scheibler fork.
A-436.0                1846              London Philharmonic.
A-435.4                1859              Pitch adopted by Vienna congress.
A-443.5                1859              Brunswick opera.
A-435.9                1868              Mason & Hamlin's French pitch, also Ritchie's standard pitch (USA)
A-448.2                1869              Leipzig, official fork of Society of Arts.
A-437.3                1872              Pitchler's fork, tuned pianos for the Berlin opera.
A-451.1                1874              Belgian Army pitch, in 1880, Chickering's standard NY pitch.
A-455.1                1877              Wagner festivals in London.
A-457.2                1879              Steinway's fork, New York pitch.
A-450.9                1880              Boston Music Hall, USA.
A-458.0                1880              Steinway's fork, New York.

The trend of the rise in pitch really began at the congress of Vienna in 1814, when the emperor of Russia presented new and sharper band instruments to an Austrian regiment, of which he was colonel. The band of this regiment became noted for the brilliancy of its tone. In 1820 another Austrian regiment received instruments that were sharper still, and the theaters were greatly dependent upon the bands of the home regiments for the source of their music, they were obliged to adopt the pitches of the regimental bands. Gradually at Vienna the pitch rose from A-421.6 (Mozart's pitch) to A-456.1, This was the pitch that the Theodore Thomas orchestra used in Cincinnati in 1880.

The mania spread throughout Europe; pitch was on the rise, but at very different rates. When the pitch reached A-448 at the Paris Opera in 1858, the music world took flight. The emperor of France appointed a commission to select a pitch, whose findings brought forth a pitch fork called Diapason Normal, which was found to be A-435.4. This fork was, at the time, preserved at the Paris Conservatory of Music. At the great Vienna Congress in 1885, this pitch was advocated to be adopted as Standard Pitch, and in the United States some of the eastern piano manufacturers did adopt that pitch and began to tune their pianos to it in 1892. Up to the time of this international congress in Vienna, many different pitches had been in use. In this country the so called concert pitch was used, but with the variations of anywhere from A-452 to A-458. Although at the international congress in Vienna in 1885 the pitch of A-435 was recognized, it was not adopted everywhere immediately.

This pitch the Vienna congress adopted was the French Diapason Normal, as it was approved by the commission appointed by the emperor of France in 1858, and adopted in 1859; A-435.4 at a temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Two important factors were specified, the number of vibrations and the degree of temperature. Those two factors must be considered together, as they are directly related.

The fact that musical programs are played under different temperature conditions than formerly, exerted an important influence upon the adoption of our present day pitch of A-440. Concert halls and other public places were not heated as they are today. There were large churches in Europe which were not heated at all. As the halls and churches were heated to ever higher temperatures, the pitch of the wind instruments went up. Wind instruments tuned to A-435 at 59 degrees F. will go up in pitch to A-440 when played in a hall heated to 72 degrees F, but the piano in turn does not go to A-440, but actually flattens slightly.

So since we do not play in cool halls of 59 degrees, but more likely at 72 degrees, and since the workmen in instrument making factories work in warmer temperatures closer to 72, it is much simpler to use an A-440 fork in the production of orchestral instruments. Piano manufacturers must consider tension, weight, and lengths of various sizes of wire used in the scale of their pianos, in order to secure a proper balance of the high tension of the wires at the recognized number of vibrations and temperature conditions.

The American Federation of Musicians finally recognized the effect of temperature on A-435 tuned instruments and at its national convention in 1917 adopted the pitch of A-440. But even at that date there was no conformity in this country. High concert pitched instruments were in use in many sections and professional musicians were compelled to use two sets of instruments in their various engagements (high and low pitch). Brass instruments were built in high pitch and provided with low pitch slides, and when used with these slides for the lowering of pitch, the intonation of the instruments became faulty, dependent on the skill of the performer to "lip" them in tune.

Outside of the aforementioned eastern piano makers who adopted A-435 in 1892, piano makers used a different pitch source according to their own ideas of pitch. Organs were tuned to the favorite pitch of the choir leader rather than to a standard, and as for pianos, their pitch varied from "high concert" to a little under A-435. In those days, if the piano tuner was not informed by the piano owner or a player as to the desired pitch they wished to have their piano tuned, it was tuned to the prevailing pitch at the time of servicing, whatever that was. Since there was no set standard, opinions continued to vary and those tuners who had forks set to the Vienna congress (A-435), gave up their use because these forks were rarely in agreement with the pitch demanded. Such were the contradictions existing in the chaotic world of pitch prior to the adoption of A-440 at 68 degrees fahrenheit.