Baldwin floating plate

[Rob Kiddell]

Richard Moody wrote:

>  The "floating plate" by Baldwin has been mentioned, and that would
> be interestng to hear more about, but I am wondering with the
> acu-just hitch pins, why the heck they also need a floating plate? 

	Good question! The theory as explained by Baldwin, (and probably 
distorted by me in the translation) has to do with the setting of the 
strings on the Accu-just pins. For those who haven't heard of 
Accu-just pins (a new type of tuning pins?), they are a hitch-pin 
design by Baldwin that is a steel tube mounted 90 degrees to the 
plate, i.e.: with no angle like conventional hitch pins. Because the 
pins are perpendicular to the plate, you can move the string up and 
down the hitch pin (after removing some tension, of course) and this 
affects back-bearing (and to a lesser degree, front-bearing) 
measurements.

  Baldwin says that the strings should be optimally set approx. 1/3 
of the way up the pin from the plate initially in the factory, to 
allow for re-setting later on in the life of the piano. The floating 
plate (Sounds like something from the X-Files... Mulder: Lets go 
check out that floating plate! Scully: Mulder, you oaf, I'm such a 
skeptic, a floating plate design could never work... hey look at 
that!) allows initial bearing to be set so that the strings rest on 
the Accu-just pins at the optimum spot. Should you need to change 
bearing later, you have two ways to do it, moving the plate, or 
re-setting the strings on the hitch pins. 

Interesting side note: in the April Journal, Charles R. Walter has 
come out with Accu-Set hitch pins on their grands.... Scully, check 
it out!

Regards, 

Rob Kiddell
R.P.T., P.T.G.
C.A.P.T. Student
Edmonton, Canada
http://www.planet.eon.net/~atonal/atonal.html