[CAUT] Baldwin D bridge

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Ted,

Do you have a source for an English version of any of Forss' 
books?  I don't mind the German, but would rather exercise what 
remains of my language skills on other stuff.  Thanks very much!

Cheers!

Horace

At 08:46 AM 11/17/2010, you wrote:
>Mick,
>
>What you describe (so well) is the design of the original Erard 
>action. There is a small drawing of it in the book on upright and 
>grand regulating by Carl-Johan Forss (page 355). I tuned many of 
>these when working in London, UK, many years ago. The French hung on 
>to the basic design with later modifications. I had a customer here 
>with a 1920 Erard with one version, but am surprised that yours is 
>as late as 1943. Basically, I feel this to be mechanically superior 
>to both the key rockers as used by older Bechsteins and to our 
>standard capstans. There is little friction and the need to position 
>the intersection of the capstan and wippen heel on a straight line 
>is eliminated. Also, the key and action are linked, preventing any 
>tendandtcy for  the action to bounce off the key, though this does 
>not seem to be a problem in the modern action. Nonetheless, I would 
>like to see if this happens on high speed video, which appears never 
>to have been investigated, unless I have missed it. Most high speed 
>video concentrates on the hammershank and string. Obviously, the 
>design is impractical, and one can well imagine plenty of 
>complaining in the early factories. There were other very good 
>details, long since abandoned, the hammers had no tails, so were 
>lighter,and they checked on a wire protruding through the repetition 
>lever (balancier) in front. This permitted the keys to be removed 
>without removing the stack.
>The original Erard had brass flanges with adjustable center pin 
>bushings. This was achieved by slitting the flange and fitting a 
>tightening screw, similarly to American square pianos. My customer's 
>piano had conventional wood flanges. One idea it had was unfortunate 
>though; the edges of the windows  in the repetition levers were 
>covered with shiny white sheepskin, and the knuckles had worn them 
>right through. The old Erards I tuned were straight strung with 
>oblong tuning pins which I tuned with a T-hammer. Most had dampers 
>underneath the strings, held up by springs. If a spring broke, you 
>were in deep trouble. I could have a good deal more to say on these 
>early instruments, but I hope you find this of some interest.
>
>Ted Sambell
>
>
>From: mick johnson <mickjohnsonrpt at gmail.com>
>To: caut at ptg.org
>Sent: Tue, November 16, 2010 11:08:41 PM
>Subject: [CAUT] Baldwin D bridge
>
>Alan - I service one of those with the added weirdness of not having 
>traditional capstans. The backs of the keys and whippen bottoms are 
>mortised and pinned together with wooden abstract. It has a 
>double-ended capstan in the middle operating like a turnbuckle. The 
>bottom of the abstract is forked and snaps onto the center pin on 
>the back of the key, so anytime you remove the stack they all have 
>to be pulled off and snapped back on. It was built in 1943. I 
>haven't figured out if the design had something to do with the war 
>effort or recreational drug use. Has anybody else seen this?
>
>Mick Johnson, R.P.T.
>University of Nebraska, Kearney
>Kearney, NE
>308-237-9264