Editing Aliquot stringing (section)

=== Tunable aliquots ===

Theodore Steinway of [[Steinway & Sons]] patented tunable aliquots in 1872. Short lengths of non-speaking wire were bridged by an aliquot throughout much of the upper range of the piano, always in locations that caused them to vibrate in conformity with their respective overtones—typically in doubled octaves and twelfths. This enhanced the power and sustain of the instrument's treble. Because it was time-consuming to correctly position each aliquot, Steinway abandoned individual aliquots for continuous cast-metal bars, each comprising an entire section of duplex bridge points. The company trusted that with an accurately templated bridge and carefully located duplex bar, the same result would be achieved with less fuss.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

[[Mason & Hamlin]], established in Boston in 1854, continued to use individual aliquots. They felt that the tuning of these short lengths of string was more accurate with an aliquot than what could be attained with a duplex bar. With the fixed points of a duplex bar, small variations in casting or bridge-pin positioning are liable to produce imperfections in the duplex string lengths. Furthermore, since variations in humidity can cause duplex scales to move in pitch more rapidly than the speaking scale, readjustments of aliquot positioning is more feasible than duplex bar re-positioning.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

A modern piano manufacturer, [[Fazioli]] (Sacile, Italy), has blended Steinway's original ideas by creating a stainless-steel track, fixed to the cast-iron plate, on which individual aliquots slide.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}