Shubert bridge response

[pianoman]

To Delwin, Warren, and any others interested.
This Shubert upright was unusual.  Being pre-1895 it had rockers on the
backs of the keys instead of capstans also.  The owner, who was very
nervous and talkative, hovered over me the whole time.  The action was dead
but the pins were tight.  It is one of those times when you sense something
special and different even though the piano is dead and you are trying to
talk the client out of throwing you money to repair it.  At the same time
you are trying to examining the unusualness of the design.  The treble
bridge which I could see through the action at the top end was a little
broader than usual.  As I said before the middle of the bridge,
longitudinally, was hollowed down and a pressure bar about normal size was
screwed into it with the strings going under it.  There were no bridge pins
and an upper bearing surface consisted of a steel bar (about 1/8" diam) was
in place.  The tuning pins were tight and the tone not to bad considering
everything else.
To answer Delwin questions:
1.  The strings rested across the steel bar described above.
2.  I don't know if it continued down into the bass because of the hovering
talking lady who kept talking.
3.  I did not see any cracks in the bridge that was visible.
4.  unknown.
5.  There was no string deflection to the sides, only up and down.
I kind of wish that I could go back and examine it but I do not want to get
involved trying to talk her out of spending a lot of money on a dead piano.
 Hope this has helped some.
James Grebe
R.P.T. from St. Louis
"Time is the vehicle in which actions can take place." JG