Ever wondered how many strings are in a piano? Here’s an easy way to quickly tell.
The piano starts in the bass with single strings; one string per note. Then goes to two strings per hammer, called a bichord, for about 10 or so notes, then the rest have three strings per note.
The total number of strings in a piano depends on where in the piano the notes go from single to bichord, and where they go from bichord to trichord.
Consider a standard piano with ten singles strings and a change from bichords to trichords at C3:
A0 to F#1 = 10 Strings
G1 to B2 = 17 x 2 = 34 Strings
C3 to C8 = 61 x 3 = 183 Strings
Total = 227 Strings
Now memorize that for a piano with ten singles, and where the strings change from bichords to trichords at C3, the total number of strings for that specific piano is 227.
Then to quickly figure out the total on another piano, count how many singles, where the change from bichord to trichord is, and make the following simple calculation.
Example:
Piano has 14 singles and changes from bichord to trichord at F3
14 singles means 4 less.
Change at F3 means 5 less.
Total strings = 227 – 9 = 218 Strings.
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