How many strings does an average medium sized piano have?

Answer 1

An average piano has about 215 - 220 strings. In the extreme bass, one string per note is enough to produce adequate volume. (To achieve the low pitch, these strings are coiled with copper, to make them thicker.) This is the "bass" of a piano. In good pianos, it it normally used only for the first octave. although I've seen pianos in which they extend to about 1.5 octaves.

In the "tenor" section, there are usually 2 strings per note, also coiled with copper. In a good piano, these usually cover the 2nd octave of the piano, but I've seen small, cheap pianos where there extend as high as middle C, covering about 1.5 octaves!

The rest of the range (upward) has 3 strings per note.

NOTE: In the last category, one string is usually tightened at the far end, and pulled back to produce the next string. In a sense, this makes one string, but it is tuned as though it were two individual strings. In the best pianos, each of the 3 strings of each note is an individually hitched string.

A small, cheap piano, may contain as few as 210 strings or less, and a high quality piano as many as 225 strings or more.

Two exceptions are the Bluthner grand, which has a 4th string to resonate the 3 strings of the piano's largest range, and the Bosendorfer Imperial Grand, which has more than 88 keys, hence, more strings.

Here's a general rule: "The smaller the piano, the fewer strings it has; the larger the piano, the more strings it has."