>> As for the Yamaha specifically, measure them and compare >> against the speaking lengths. Then do the math. Or pluck and ponder. >> >> >> Ron N > >I can see the point of the original question, and it's not a stupid one! * Hey Mark, I never imagined for a moment that it was, and it certainly wasn't my intent to imply any such thing. >The back duplex pitches seem to be consistently a semitone out from what you >expect. I don't have a Yamaha grand within easy reach to check this on, so I >couldn't tell you if it's a semitone up or down but it's very >consistent...not a mistake. * Again, I didn't assume, state, or intentionally imply that it was an accidentally, or arbitrarily obtained thing. >Whereas Fazioli will tune those cute little gizmo's perfectly to whatever >they have decided on each part of the piano. > >Curious... > >Cheers >Mark Bolsius >Bolsius Piano Services >Canberra Australia OK, one more time. Here's my personal take on rear duplex tuning. I'm not convinced that it makes a heck of a lot of difference how a rear duplex is "tuned" because of at least a couple of inescapable basic conditions. First, the rear duplex is excited by the general movement of the bridge under play, not by the bleed through from any specific note, like the front duplex, and therefor is going to make some sort of noise no matter what note on the bridge is being played. There just isn't a direct correlation between the note played and the rear duplex like there is in the front. Second, the reluctance of the strings to render through the bridge pins, compared to the relative ease of rendering across the capo, means that it is highly unlikely that the rear duplex segment will be at the tension, and therefor pitch, that the length of the segment would seem to indicate. More simply put, the rear duplex will be only very roughly at the pitch for which it was designed, under real world circumstances, so the rear duplex tuning can't be terribly critical or no piano with a rear duplex could possibly sound good. In the case of the Yamaha, the lengths were chosen to insure that the duplex was not remotely in tune with any partial of the corresponding note. Again, since the rear duplex gets it's power second hand from the general movement of the bridge, I don't see how it really makes a heck of a lot of difference. What's the difference if the rear duplex is tuned to it's assigned note, or the note adjacent to it? Generally, it's my opinion that a tuned or intentionally untuned duplex of any sort is unnecessary and superfluous if the soundboard is working adequately with the string scale. My last, and probably least, point in that previous post is that there is no universally agreed upon correct pitch for any note in any specific piano (a-4 being a near miss), so there can't possibly be a "correct" pitch for any segment in any duplex in any piano on the planet... even if there was an agreed upon design criteria. If the industry, the physics, and individual technicians' determination of tuning produce no precisely defined standard, then the industry is guessing. So pluck and ponder. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC