Piano Rims (rambling post)

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillip L Ford" <fordpiano@lycos.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: December 30, 2001 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: Piano Rims (rambling post)


> Jim,
> Another comment about this.  I find it interesting
> that violins and guitars use very thin rims.
> Comparing a violin to a piano may be suspect because
> the violin is constantly having energy poured into
> it by the player whereas a piano gets one initial
> burst of energy which then is going to dissipate in
> some way and we have to be concerned about how.  But
> a guitar also gets an initial burst of energy and
> then no more, as in a piano.  You would think that
> guitar builders would be more concerned about energy
> dissipation than piano builders, but guitars have
> not evolved to have heavy rims (relatively speaking).
> Maybe they know something we don't.
>
> Phil F


Violins are not pianos. Neither are guitar's. The guitars I've looked at
have had soundboards that are quite massive and stiff relative to their
string load. I would guess that the rims are very nearly acoustically
superfluous other than as a positioning device.

Del