Piano Rims (rambling post)

[Phillip L Ford]

>>How do the rim braces fit into this? I've heard it said that they are only 
>>there to
>>keep the belly rail from rolling.  
>
>Stiffness. A stiff and excessively braced rim and belly rail is less a
>vibrational sink than just a stiff rim and belly rail. By my design
>philosophy, a rim can't be too stiff. Particularly the long side and belly
>rail, but generally overall. 

Does this mean that you modify the bracing on
your pianos?  Many pianos seem to have no bracing
along the straight side.  And many seem to have
all belly rail support concentrated in one spot,
and in a spot that I might think it's not so
important that it be stiff.

> >Perhaps you could carry this to an extreme and have the soundboard resting on
>>a thin knife edge around the perimeter, as in a guitar or violin.  Why would 
>>this
>>be a bad idea?
>
>I don't know, why? As long as the rim is sufficiently stiff and massive and
>the gluing surface was adequate to anchor the board, why not? Functionally,
>there would be no appreciable difference if there were 5 millimeters or 500
>millimeters of soundboard securely glued to the rim.
>
>Ron N

Actually I was thinking more of a theoretical rim
which is not massive at all but is more like a piece
of sheet metal bent around in the shape of the
board perimeter.
It would be so light and flexible that it couldn't
absorb any energy.  The opposite of the conventional
thinking which is make it massive and stiff so it
won't absorb energy.  Well, how about make it so
light and so flexible that it can't absorb energy?

Phil F



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