In this research work, the evolution of piano making in Vienna in the 19th century was studied on the basis of five instruments made between 1805 (replica) and 1873. This has led first to a comparison in terms of geometry, piano action, string's parameters and tension, and soundboard design. For each instrument, geometrical and material data sheets were collected for the purpose of simulations.

For each piano, a large number of measurements were conducted on string and soundboard vibrations, and on the radiated sound. An original method was developed for reconstructing the hammer force from measurements of the string velocity. These signals were analysed, both in the time and frequency domain. From this analysis, additional parameters were extracted, such as damping factors, and correlations could be made between physical construction parameters (string tension, soundboard thickness,...) and signal descriptors (decay times, spectral envelopes,...).

Simulations of these five pianos were conducted, based on a model where strings, soundboard and acoustic field are coupled. Comparisons between measurements and simulations demonstrate that the set of descriptive parameters for each instrument allow a fair reproduction of the reality. From these comparisons, the evolution of piano timbre from the early pianoforte to modern pianos is explained on the basis of the measured physical and geometrical data. More specifically, the influence of string tension, string amplitude, string-soundboard coupling, soundboard thickness, soundboard rigidity and piano environment on the resulting sound were tested. For these investigations, the main advantage of simulations is to allow variations of one single parameter at a time, something which is hard (or even impossible) to achieve on real instruments. In this regard, the accurate simulations of musical instruments appear to be complementary tools of traditional instrument making.