It is true that the stock styles of grand pianoforte cases are usually plain as to contour and decoration, but no one now can deny to them grace and purity of outline or beauty and richness of material. On the other hand, the practice increases yearly of keeping in stock cases made in such styles as the Chippendale, the Sheraton and the Empire, to say nothing of the perennial and truly American Colonial designs. The fact that these numerous varieties all find purchasers is a striking commentary on the growing taste and refinement of the general public.
In considering the case construction of the upright pianoforte, we are led to observe that this type exhibits, in these matters, certain important advantages over the grand. It is true that the case is not so homogeneously fitted into the resonant structure, and it is equally true that the grand has hitherto had much the better of it in the fight for tonal quality and volume. Nevertheless, considering the upright in the light of its own peculiar fitness for popular use, we are bound to observe, in considering the construction of its case and back-framing, the special advantages over the grand that we mentioned as existing.
The chief and most obvious of the inherent advantages of the upright pianoforte lies in the position which the instrument takes up. The hammers strike in front of the strings and tend to force them down upon the bridges, so that the full energy of the blow is impressed upon them. Further, there is none of that tendency of the strings to fly off from the belly bridge which is always present in the square and to a certain extent in the grand. Again the vertical position of the sound-board would seem to be more favorable to the free vibration of the wooden fibres of which it is composed; while the simplicity of the general outline of the upright permits the employment of a larger sound-board area than is possible with either the square or the small grand. Lastly, the wrest-plank is greatly strengthened by the omission of the gap between it and the sound-board, which permits the use of lighter framing and a consequent gain in portability.
While recognizing these facts, however, we are bound to recognize many other features that go far to destroy the great initial advantage here described. It cannot be doubted that today the upright is pre-eminently the popular type. Whether this fact is entirely a matter for congratulation is doubtful, for the upright form lends itself readily to cheap and trashy production. The conditions of modern domestic life are such, on the other hand, that the portability and convenience of the popular type, no less than the possibility of producing it cheaply, have given it a hold upon the public fancy which its own inherent and undoubted advantages might never have secured for it.