Re-Notch or No

[Bill Ballard]

On 5/1/97, Horace Greeley <hgreeley@leland.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
<<I think that, for all of the problems that it clearly introduces into
tuning and voicing, the difference, _in some instruments_ makes the extra
work worthwhile in terms of better projection, and greater homogeneity of
the scale through that difficult 5th and 6th octave area.>>

Thanks to everyone for the input, but as we mull ovr these posts, no
clear conlusions emerge. Horace emphasizes  "_in some instruments_ ".
Frank Hanson said that sustain was traded for projection, which Horace
also mentions, but that the gain was barely perceptable. Rob Loomis's
weak sounding straight notcher has so many other variables, and the "1892
[mate to one in Smithsonian] D " will have its bias notches carried
forward with the old bridge, mainly for historical reasons.

The more I reflect on Horace's decision (was your friend John wearing red
or black lapels?), the more I'm interested in checking out the bias
notching after the restringing and the file&voice which will follow it.
It's a living room piano, but with a big human voice, and well-loved. If
I have any complaint about this section, it's the capo bar which will
also get cleaned up in this job. (Remember, though it's a '24 piano, the
current belly is from the restoration center somtime in the 1960s.)
Certainly, it's a fork in the road, but "the road less traveled" (yeah,
so I come from Vermont...) is a rare experience, and one maybe worth
having. There's also a 1940 D which the whole nine yards done on it by
A&C of NYC ten years ago in the same room. The are entirely different
pianos, but at least in that same room will be two Ds each having the
different notching style.

On 5/2/97, rhohf@idcnet.com wrote:
<<One problem with sqaring up the notches on mid-1920s D's is that the
aliquote  bar terminations are angled to be parallel with the angled
notches. >>

Very good point. I don't remember noticing, but seems to me that an
aliquot bar to match bias notching would have been funny enough looking
that I would remember seeing it. The set of duplexes from S&S is $112.00.

On 5/1/97, Horace Greeley <hgreeley@leland.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
<<	Was that the north end or the south end of the angus session?>>

It has been a fertile discussion <g>. Thanks everyone for the input.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter

"I'll play it and tell you what it is later...."
     Miles Davis