Alexander piano

The Alexander Barrie Mann piano is a grand piano that is 18’9”, 5700mm.
The piano was designed and built entirely by Adrian Alexander Mann of Maungati Timaru New Zealand with no training or professional help. Construction of the piano commenced when Adrian was just 16 years of age on the 24th October 2005 and completed on the 4th April 2009. The name is of Adrian Mann’s great great grandfather who is a maternal cousin to Sir James Matthew Barrie.
The piano project aim was to push the limits of conservative piano construction and obtain a unique tone due to the large bass strings. The low A string runs the entire length of the piano and is made from gage 26 Roslau wire. There are 80 trichords and 5 bichords. There are no copper wound strings in the piano.
Interesting Facts
The keyboard has 85 keys at a standard size. There are 2 pedals And 8 prop sticks for the lid to be raised to three different levels. Three legs support the piano which is over 1.2 tons and there are four castors on each leg. The piano can be moved on its castors by one person.
Alexander is veneered in New Zealands native timbers Rimu and Kahikatea.
The rim, case and most of the piano including the soundboard are made of recycled materials. The sound-board is made of ¼ sawn Canadian Douglass fir. New Materials includ steel frame, action parts, steel wire, timber for the soundboard Bridge and keys.
Keys are made from a second hand keyboard laminated onto four large boards of cedar and aluminium 48mm thick then cut into lengths. The aluminium stops the keys from warping over there long length.
The piano has no pin-block but instead uses maple dowels rammed into steel which the tuning pins are driven into.
As a piano the sound is very powerful due to the long strings and large sound-board. The keys are heaver in touch but they are very responsive.
The bass is very clear in its sound but not over powering and there is a good amount of evenness through out the tone. The bass is clear due to the bass string being closer to its proper speaking length creating fewer overtones.
The Alexander is tuned and maintained the same as any other piano but a major difference is that the keys behind the name board go back a considerable distance over 800mm as the hammer striking point of the longest string is 1/8. This means that regulating becomes more difficult.
The Alexander piano project adds another page in the evolution of the piano and demonstrates what is possible in extreme piano building.
Information from the creator Adrian Mann.

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