Why does my piano sound honky tonk?

The "Honky Tonk" sound happens when you try to play a piano that has been hanging out in one of these bars until very late the night before. The best cure is a stern lecture on the responsibilities that the piano has ignored by behaving that way... that and a fine tuning.

forum.pianoworld.com - What makes a piano sound honky-tonk?

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Re: What makes a piano sound honky-tonk? harpon 2321143 12:56 PM Joined: Posts: 260 C Corvus Full Member Corvus Full Member C Joined: Posts: 260 In the early 1980s, I recal playing an upright at a friend's house that had a lever that would lower a strip of leather or vinyl in front of the strings, with metal rivets or tacks at the point where the hammers would hit, resulting in a twanging honky-tonk sound. I had not thought of that piano for thirty years, until this thread reminded me of it. Now with a little help from google, I see that this device is called a mandolin rail:

http:/ / www.perfessorbill.com/ help/ help.htm

http:/ / en.m.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Tack_piano

I agree that the vast majority of honky-tonk sounding pianos are simply out of tune (and many of them, after decades of neglect, are not really capable of holding a good tuning anymore). However, it may be that this piano you tried had the hammers lacquered to deliberately give it a honky-tonk sound. My dad played piano at Shakey's Pizza Parlour and a number of other establishments in the 1960s. He used to talk about people shellacking the hammers of a piano to get a honky-tonk effect.In the early 1980s, I recal playing an upright at a friend's house that had a lever that would lower a strip of leather or vinyl in front of the strings, with metal rivets or tacks at the point where the hammers would hit, resulting in a twanging honky-tonk sound. I had not thought of that piano for thirty years, until this thread reminded me of it. Now with a little help from google, I see that this device is called a mandolin rail:I agree that the vast majority of honky-tonk sounding pianos are simply out of tune (and many of them, after decades of neglect, are not really capable of holding a good tuning anymore). However, it may be that this piano you tried had the hammers lacquered to deliberately give it a honky-tonk sound.

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yamaha.com - The Structure of the Piano:Design of the Strings Enriches the Sound

The three strings for middle pitch and high pitch notes are not only intended to increase the volume during play, but also enrich the quality of the sound. Even though the three strings that correspond to the same note are hit by one hammer, the point at which the hammer makes contact and the positions of supports vary between the strings, so the three strings do not oscillate in exactly the same way, bringing life to the reverberation of the strings after they have been hit and a rich, full quality to the sound. Let's compare the sound when variation in the vibrations of the strings have been deliberately introduced. With one of the strings tuned to A at 440 hertz, example one has the other two strings tuned 1.5 cents higher and lower, example two has them each at an interval of 1.0 cents, and the third example has them each differing by 0.5 cents. Example four has the three strings tuned to the same 440 hertz frequency. One cent is equal to the difference in frequency for one hundredth of a semitone interval on the equal temperament scale.

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