Small Bridge Pin Source

[Ron Nossaman]

>I'm not a scaler yet. Can only handle so much new info at a time! The small
>(0.068") pins are on notes #48 through #88. At #48 I have 0.040" wire with a
>speaking length of 40.8 cm. At #58 I have 0.036" wire with a speaking length
>of 23.4 cm. At #68 I have 0.034" wire with a speaking length of 12.6 cm. At
>#78 I have 0.032" wire with a speaking length of 7.1 cm. And at #88 I have
>0.031" wire with a speaking length of 4.9 cm.
>
>What are these tensions? What is the formula that you use? (I've just never
>looked into it yet - but it is time for me to start dabbling with this
>stuff.) Are these tensions generally considered high, medium, low or other?

They're pretty low, with the exception of #48. The length progressions
aren't logarithmic. They increase by small increments at the top, with the
increment size increasing as they go down scale, leaving the top half of
the scale pretty short. So with the low tensions and small stagger angle,
there isn't a lot of pressure on those small pins. That's what I was
wondering about. One of Jim Coleman's articles on your PTJ CD set has a
page of appropriate formulae. I think it's the "ideal" tuning series, or
something like that. Or I can send you scans of some class handouts Kent
sent me when I was looking for comparisons between inharmonicity formulae.  


>What do you usually shoot for? I recall Ron O. saying he likes what he gets
>with a 20 degree pin inclination and a good 10 degree stagger angle. I
>believe he was referring to his first piano - a modified Samick 225.

Yep, 20° pin inclination and 10° stagger work just fine for me.



>Fortunately, this piano is all for show and maybe a few Christmas carols!
>
>Terry Farrell

Where's a good Halloween carol when you need one?

Ron N