Fazioli

What you need to know about Fazioli Piano!

Fazioli Factory

Founded by Paolo Fazioli, an engineer and musician, Fazioli has been manufacturing grand and concert grand pianos since 1981. Each instrument features high quality materials and technology, individually hand-finished with the most skilful craftsmanship.

The Fazioli factory is located in the town of Sacile, 60 kilometres northeast of Venice, which has been the most prestigious place for woodworking since antiquity.

Forest

The Val di Fiemme, in the heart of the western Italian Alps, is the region where the red spruce trees used by Antonio Stradivari, the famous violin maker of the 1800s, grew for his violins.

Only a very small percentage of the trees grown in this region grow in conditions that can reproduce the sound quality of a Fazioli piano. The most important part of the piano, the soundboard, must be made of wood that is as specific and low density as possible, with a perfectly homogeneous structure, extremely flexible and robust.

Frame

The first stage in the construction of Fazioli pianos is the shaping of the side frame section, which consists of an inner and outer section. The inner frame is formed by machining 5 mm thick solid spruce wood layers without losing its characteristics.

The delicate craftsmanship in the processing of curved materials such as wood underpins the artistic dimension of piano production. The outer edge frame, with its outer coating stage and other features, has a higher degree of precision and the importance of craftsmanship increases accordingly.

In the Fazioli factory, the woods that will form the frames are kept under the presses for a long time, allowing them to get used to their new form over time. With this method, the adhesive is allowed to dry naturally instead of chemically. The wood, which has a natural tendency, has a form stability that will not deteriorate for many years. These edge frames, which have been created from scratch, are taken into the resting phase, which will take a minimum of 6 months.

Frame

The frame, which bears the entire load of the piano, is connected to the inner frame. After the front crosspiece is connected by metal joints, the support bars are connected to the joints laid in the frame. These bars are supported by the maximum rigidity of glued spruce with three different degrees of hardness. The connection between the frame and the bars is reinforced with spruce nails. This process requires extreme care, as this is how the permeability and uniformity of the frame to heat, moisture, etc. is ensured.

Soundboard

The soundboard is made by gluing together planks cut from red spruce logs in various sizes. These pieces, 1 cm thin and 8 to 12 cm wide, are meticulously joined together by professional Fazioli technicians. Before each piece is glued, it is joined with its mate, which is judged to have the same height.

The gluing is done with a manual pressing system, which is still considered the best method for the best and clearest results. Afterwards, the support mould surrounding the soundboard is removed and both sides are polished to a perfectly parallel finish by a special calibration machine. Finally, the soundboard is left to rest for a minimum of 3 years in a climate-controlled room with ideal conditions, temperature and humidity.

the soundboard

Before moving on to the next stage in the manufacturing process, the soundboard is shaved smoothly to minimise any movement that may occur on each edge. This process is a finely detailed process with countless parameters and variations that determine how the soundboard should respond at different frequencies. For this reason, Fazioli technicians use machines controlled by special numerical systems that can move to within a tenth of a millimetre.

Gluing the rib

The soundboard is now a very flexible membrane. The red spruce cross pieces, which we call nails, are placed perpendicular to the wood grain to support the soundboard and glued with special pneumatic pressures..

Gluing bridges

Two separate bridges are glued to the soundboard at the same time, creating a kind of double curve on the board. As a result of this process, the soundboard takes on a slightly convex structure.

Kabin

After veneering, the soundboard is glued to the inner frame where it will live together for life. The cabinet is left to rest in a climate-controlled room for more than 4 months.

Cast frame

The cast metal frame of a Fazioli Piano is produced by the traditional sand casting technique. This method must be carried out strictly by skilled craftsmen. This type of casting offers much higher acoustic quality than those made with modern automation.

Nail block

The nail block is the block into which the steel tuning nails are driven.

The stability and strength of the nail block also ensures the stability of the tuning. The nail block is produced by gluing the wood with phenolic adhesive under high pressure. As in every stage, this process requires extreme meticulousness.

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