Why is my piano so darn heavy?
The
single heaviest component within your piano is the cast iron plate.
Pictured here is the plate, sometimes called the harp, from a small
grand piano. It has been temporarily removed to allow for replacement of
this piano's pin block. Along with other general structural elements,
this plate bears the incredible tension that over 200 tightly stretched
music wires exert on it. On average, each string in the piano is
stretched to a tension equaling about 165 pounds (75 Kilos). Multiply by
the number of strings, and you'll find that the structure must be built
to withstand close to 20 tons (18,000 K) of stress. With all this
tension, a piano has to be heavily constructed to survive.
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