Thanks, Alex! Now I got to read the article. Very informative and interesting to a musically-inclined techno-nut (and Lego fan) like me. I guess Lego bricks can impart enough integrity to the frame to maintain tension after all...
Thanks Nicholas Dollak - you're right about the link, it's fixed now. Also, I misspelled harpsichord - fixed too.
The builder wanted to build a lego piano at first, but found out that the structure couldn't stand up to the tension. From the website:
"Originally, upon thinking about the potentials of making a LEGO musical instrument, I had hoped to reproduce a piano, but ditched the idea due to the enormous tension involved (40,000 lbs.)--there's a reason why pianos have steel frames. Its ancestor, the harpsichord, seemed more practically possible--the key/jack workings are simple levers, the strings are plucked, it's smaller, and it maintains less tension. Coincidentally, I was in my Bach phase anyways."
The link doesn't connect to anything regarding the harpsichord; you might wish to check on that. Looks cool, though! My Mom's a piano teacher and the mother of five, so she should get a kick out of this. I notice that the builder added two extra legs to support the middle, which, due to the nature of Lego, would otherwise sag under its own weight. I'm rather surprised that a Lego frame was sufficient to maintain string tension, though. Even a standard hardwood frame usually isn't enough to keep a harpsichord in tune longer than a few days at a time.
The builder wanted to build a lego piano at first, but found out that the structure couldn't stand up to the tension. From the website:
"Originally, upon thinking about the potentials of making a LEGO musical instrument, I had hoped to reproduce a piano, but ditched the idea due to the enormous tension involved (40,000 lbs.)--there's a reason why pianos have steel frames. Its ancestor, the harpsichord, seemed more practically possible--the key/jack workings are simple levers, the strings are plucked, it's smaller, and it maintains less tension. Coincidentally, I was in my Bach phase anyways."