Reverse crown was agraffe bridges

[John Delacour]

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At 10:25 AM -0800 11/19/01, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

>From: <mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>Richard Brekne
>Isnt this a rather.... wide definition of a duplex Del ? I mean when 
>the get to the point of being 3-5 mm long and muted at that it seems 
>a bit of a stretch to call the thing a duplex.... or what ?
>
>--
>
>What would you prefer to call it? Duplex simply means 'consisting of 
>two parts.' Beyond that we really have to get more specific. If we 
>are going to go to the trouble of tuning the duplex surely it's not 
>too difficult to say so. And we have a perfectly good word we can 
>use: aliquot, meaning, "to divide something exactly." Or we can say 
>the duplex is "an aliquot part" of the speaking length meaning the 
>duplex is divided into some fractional part of the speaking length.

So far as I'm concerned "Duplex" is a Steinway term and I would use 
it only to refer to a system of tuned back lengths and front lengths 
as used on Steinways and imitators of the Steinway system.  That is 
why I speak always of the back length etc.  simple words with no 
proprietary sense.

"Aliquot" is the name of a totally different system of tuned partials 
patented by Bl=FCthner. "Aliquot scaling" is defined in Webster as "a 
method of strengthening the tone of the upper notes by providing an 
extra sympathetic string for each note".  That is the only sense in 
which this abstruse word applies to the pianomaker.

And while we're at it, "Capo d'Astro" as cast in black letters into 
the plate of so many Steinways, is a pure Steinwayism with no 
etymological basis at all,  "CAPO TASTO" is presumably what they 
meant to say.  Your "capo tastro"  and someone else's "Oliquot" are 
non-existent entities.

=46or those not familiar with Bl=FCthner's Aliquot scale, a fourth string 
of mwg 9 to 11 runs beside the three main strings, above and to the 
right of them.  These strings have their own tuning pin and are tuned 
to a partial of the main note.  They hook under a special extension 
to the agraffes and at the sounboard bridge they pass through a tall 
brass pillar screwed into the bridge.  The dampers of the affected 
notes have a special side-piece to damp the "aliquot" strings.  The 
classic Bl=FCthner is a beautifully made piano but, aliquot or no, they 
rarely shine in the treble, in spite of what seems to be a very nice 
arrangement of cast-in pressure bar furnished with downward pointing 
'blank' agraffes in brass.

JD

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