[CAUT] Stuart & Son on NPR

[Fred Sturm]

On Jan 20, 2011, at 9:53 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

> And current condition. What was it, 70 years old, with a concave  
> soundboard? I like the idea of bridge agraffes, generally, and  
> thought the stamped cheapie was brilliant, and had the potential to  
> be as good in function as any made.
> Ron N


And actually the stamped part is not that important from a tonal point  
of view, looking at the patent drawing. It just holds the other things  
in place and spreads the strings. The actual bearing is separate  
pieces of "wood or metal" (I think I'd choose metal <G>). I would  
expect, though, that the screw holding it to the bridge might get  
loose over time (the wood would compress against it like a flange), so  
you might end up with a very serious lack of positive coupling of  
string to bridge (thinking of Ed's description of the whistling  
sound). But it seems like the real downfall of the idea was the fact  
that it was a cheap substitute, so was likely to be put together with  
less care, and on cheaper and less well-designed instruments.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain