Duplex

[Duplexdan@AOL.COM]

Del,

Our symbiotic adovocational/critical dialogue regarding the duplex scale 
energy seems to be focusing in at the bridge. Your view of the bridge board 
assembly being responsible for the energy transfer rather than the vibrations 
of the string itself could be alot closer to the truth than many of the views 
extant. The original Steinway patent has some phrases in it that I still can 
not reconcile with the English version, especially the langsschwingungen and 
the langeschwingungen disparity. I still don't get it. Your idea may be 
closer to the understanding of the duplex scale phenomena than any others, 
including mine. 

On the other hand, you seem to be wililng to acknowledge that energy is 
transferred and the pitch of the duplex scale does have an effect on the tone 
of the speaking length. To that point I would like to mention a slightly 
different viewpoint that may be worth your consideration. And that is the 
specific response of the duplex portion of the string to the activation of 
the speaking length.

When I first started my research and experiments i believed that there was an 
actual sound of the duplex scale that was supposed to coincide with the 
speaking length. And when it did, the tone was better, and when it didn't the 
tone was worse in terms of sustain and purity. However in the past few years 
I have abandoned this viewpoint.
I believe that Bluthner tried his 4th string duplex design with this theory 
in mind. At the moment, my best view is that the bridge pins do indeed stop a 
great deal of the energy between SL and DL but not all of it. Since the 
bridge pin is not a hitch pin, it can't  So what goes across the bridge?  And 
then , what comes back?  Isn't the string alive even though a great portion 
of its energy is curtailed?

So my view is not that there is a resonant response of the duplex scale 
portion of the strin producing an actual tone that blends or detracts from 
the speaking length, but
rather that the course of energy going from SL to Duplex , around the hitch 
pin and
 back into the speaking length directly does affect the vibrational 
consistency of the speaking length.

It really may be time to set up an experiment that gets to the heart of the 
matter. I am not equipped to do it at the moment. Rick Baldassin and Randy 
Potter have offered to be integral partners in such an endeavor, but our 
distances from one another make this impractical for now.

If any one were to consider this project I would like to suggest a specific 
strategy that I would use if I had the means. VIZ

Using a Reyburn Cybertuner, I would take a subject specimen piano with a 
perfectly tuned duplex scale and take all kinds of reading from it. Then I 
would mute the duplex scale entirely and take a second set of readings. 
Thirdly I would de-tune the duplex to "dissonant" (non low partial tones, 
such as sevenths, flat ninths,) and take another set of readings. Fourthly, I 
would mute the dissonant duplex and take a fourth set of readings. 

Tis would be an interesting project, don't you think?

Duplexdan