Question re: Bridge Pins

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@gendernet.org>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: December 08, 2002 2:50 PM
Subject: Re: Question re: Bridge Pins


> Hi Ron et al.,
>
> Thanks, all, for the explanation.
>
> Ron Overs wrote:
>
> > Not sufficiently, some offset angle, whether it be horizontal or
> > vertical, is necessary to prevent falseness. I know this first hand
> > because I have built a bridge with insufficient side draft angle,
> > through a spreadsheet formula error. The tone was a disaster until
> > the bridge was recapped.
>
> When you talk about horizontal offset, are you referring to the speaking
> length and the back segment coursing along parallel routes with a lateral
> offset (ignoring downbearing angle, of course), or are you talking about
> their being non-parallel?

He is talking about the lateral offset between bridge pins.


>
> Also, are you referring to false beats?  What
> would cause this false beating, mechanistically?  Do horizontal vibrations
> cause the string to "slide" over the surface of the bridge, thereby
> resulting both in spurious noise and in energy loss to friction?

Yes, he is talking about false beats. The cause and cure for which have both
been debated furiously for at least a hundred years.


>
> > Of course an alternative engineering
> > solution could be employed, but it wouldn't be as cheap.
>
> I'm curious about this one, too.  I've seen piano techs grumble and groan
> endlessly (and understandably) about the difficulties of bridge pinning.
If
> somebody had the perfect, ready-to-go, higher-tech solution, even if it
cost
> more than a box of new bridge pins, wouldn't the savings in labor and
> aspirin justify the added cost?  Couldn't the rebuilder point out the
> higher-tech solution to the buyer with the explanation (we'll presume)
that
> *this* bridge will last longer and perform better than its primitave
> cousins?  Wouldn't that be worth something to the buyer?  Considering all
> the labor that goes into rebuilding a piano, wouldn't it make sense to put
> in, say, an extra several hundred dollars in parts to upgrade the piano to
> something superior to other pianos???  (I'm not pontificating...  I'm
trying
> to understand more about this extremely conservative industry and would
> appreciate your thoughts.)

Part of the problem is that this phenomenon is most noticeable only by the
technician. And that when he/she is tuning the piano. It is not one of those
things piano dealers and/or potential piano buyers are bothered by or even
hear.

We do not have a viable alternative to the conventional bridge pin
configuration because there is no strong marketing motivation for one. You
are right when you call this an "extremely conservative industry." Though it
was not always such. There was a time about a hundred years back when
experimentation and development were not only common but were considered
essential to the well-being of a vital industry and its future. But it takes
a certain kind of individual to think this way and the innovative people
that formed the foundation of the industry were not always the best business
leaders. As the innovaters died off or were forced out of their companies
their innovation went with them.

In the mid-1970s I was told by John Steinway, at the time president of
Steinway Piano Company, that his company had perfected the piano by the
early 1930s and all that remained possible was to build instruments
according to that pattern. Unfortunately, altogether too many other leaders
in the industry seem to agree. And the industry continues to shrink.

In the late 1980s I worked for some brief time on a variety of different
ideas and devices intended to replace the conventional bridge pin system.
For all of the obvious reasons. About the time I had gotten a good start on
the project it was cancelled do to lack of management interest. There was no
compelling need to replace the bridge pin system since the dealers were not
complaining about them. If the dealers were not complaining (and dealers are
a piano companies only customer base) then there was not a problem. If there
is not a problem then there is no need to spend any money on fixing it.
Since I was not yet able to demonstrate that any of my alternatives would be
cheaper than the machine drilled, notched and pinned system used currently.
Better was not an issue and was not addressed. Get on to other things like
why are all those soundboards falling out of all of the pianos we've built
over the last two weeks.

It is a conservative industry, yes, but beyond that it is an industry on
which many major manufacturers have basically given up. Look for a hotbed of
activity today and the best you'll find is the ongoing scramble to locate or
relocate factories in some new area of extremely low-cost labor. If the
world ever runs out of peoples to exploit the piano industry as we know it
today -- like many others -- is going to be pretty much over.

Regards,

Del