Introduction, and Bridges with Agraffes

[Brad Smith]

Welcome David! The only thing I wish is that we could hear your Scottich
accent
through the E-Mail.  On the subject of bridges with aggraffes...I have only
encountered one so far, it was a Sohmer grand, and the sustain was
incredible. I have often wondered why we don't see more of this type of
design.

Brad Smith, RPT
Manchester, NH
USA
-----Original Message-----
From: David Boyce <David@bouncer.force9.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Thursday, December 18, 1997 9:34 AM
Subject: Introduction, and Bridges with Agraffes


>Hello folks,
>
>As this is my first mailing to the list, can I introduce myself?  My name's
>David Boyce, and I'm a tuner/technician in the West of Scotland (UK).
>Barrie told me about the list some weeks ago, and I subscribed and have
>been very much enjoying the digest ever since.
>I wanted to pick up on a recent thread - about thinner bridges.  Barrie
>suggested a bridge with agraffes.  There is in fact such a piano.  It's a
>very beautiful large grand built by Mr Wayne Stuart of Australia and it's
>in the concert hall of Newcastle University, New South Wales.  The Dean of
>the Faculty of Music was so very kind as to send me some information and a
>video of three short news programmes featuring this piano.  There are some
>CD recordings available, on the australian Tall Poppies label - I have one
>called "Mere Bagatelles", which is of short piano pieces by contemporary
>Australian composers. (CD number TP080)
>One of Mr. Stuart's design innovations is to address the manner in which
>the strings pass over the bridge.  He uses  specially designed agraffes
>which limit the plane of vibration of the string to the vertical.  A
>slow-motion video shows that when the string is first struck it of course
>displaces vertically, but as the note decays, this changes to a circular
>movement.  Wayne Stuart's agraffes keep the motion to the vertical, which
>affects the duration and the harmonic content of the note.  He maintains
>that it's possible to hear the individual notes of a chord more clearly on
>his piano than on others, and listening to the CD I'm inclined to agree.  I
>would love to hear this instrument in more familiar repertoire.  The piano
>also has four pedals, whose precise function I've forgotten, as I've
>temporarily loaned the information material to a client.  The whole thing
>is a fascinating project, and I believe another piano is well under
>construction.
>
>Folks, we get 'dog-in-piano' hoax callers here too!  Had one a couple of
>years ago, and once I cottoned on to what was happening, I suggested he
>needed a vet, not a piano tuner!  At which point he swore, and hung up.
>
>Best wishes to all,
>
>David.
>David@bouncer.force9.net
>
>
>