On Jul 22, 2009, at 9:24 PM, Greg Newell wrote: > I’ve read a bunch of observations about the new Hurstwood system of > bridge termination. I wish that I could have gone to the convention > this year to see it for myself. I was born in Grand Rapids and have > never been back so I was really looking forward to it but business > tanked out pretty badly for me as of the end of last year. > Interestingly enough beginning about three weeks before the > convention we had a very large uptick in business and now we’re > quite busy. I guess that’s just the way it goes. Anyway as I’m > looking at the Hurstwood bridge pictures I’m wondering if I’m the > only one reminded of the Stuart system. Anyone else see a resemblance? Yes, I think they are connected. I am not clear about the details of the Stuart bridge system, but I think the Phoenix evolved from it. Hurstwood prominently features Stuart piano. The Phoenix system begins with two terminations per unison, that are made of brass and very similar to the old Baldwin individual aliquot bars for the rear duplex: pointed on top (where the string bears), flat on the bottom. These terminations are independent, and rest directly on the bridge. Then there is a brass fixture that is screwed to the bridge. It has slots that hold the terminations in place - there are slots that precisely fit the contours of the terminations, without putting any pressure on them. It also has vertical elements projecting above the middle (between the terminations) with C slots. And finally there is a cylindrical part that I will call a barrel, with grooves corresponding to the strings, that serves to space the unisons and press downward on the strings between the terminations. It snaps into the slots I described earlier. I know this wordy description is worth far less than looking at one, or even a picture, but if you have a picture, it might help to understand the principles. http://atlanticmusiccenter.com/phoenix.html has additional information, as well as a good photo. From what the exhibitors said, it seems that having those terminations independent is a very important feature, as it allows the energy of the string to be transmitted very directly onto the bridge. The portions of the devise that pull the string down between the terminations is independent of the terminations. They call it a bridge agraffe, but it is as different from the Sohmer thing of that name as night and day. And, from my own experience, it works. BTW, this is associated with zero downbearing, and on the Steingraeber downbearing was adjusted using vertical hitchpins that are threaded with a very fine thread into the plate. Hence, very precise adjustment is possible and convenient. They say adjustment to . 01 mm is possible. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090723/43178e8a/attachment.htm>
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