Wapin bridge

David M. Porritt dm.porritt@verizon.net
Thu, 24 Jan 2002 18:59:28 -0600


Yesterday I tuned a Wapin Knabe 6'4" that is really very nice.  Round
tone, smooth, slow decay even in the killer area.  Very nice piano
indeed.  I tuned it before it was "Wapinized" and while nice, it was
not what it is today.

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/24/02 at 3:54 PM Ron Nossaman wrote:

>>It strikes me that the main thing about the Wapin arrangement is
the 
>>near perpendicular disposition of the front pin.  Without reading 
>>right through the patent I can't be sure if he says anything about 
>>the way the "bearing point edge" is cut and whether a small
vertical 
>>drop is desirable (a feature Wolfenden admires in the practice of
one 
>>maker, probably Ibach) or whether this angle should be at least 
>>steep, as it certainly is not on the Steinway.
>
>Yes, the vertical pin is the pertinent point. Tim Coates
straightened me
>out on this a while back. The purpose of the vertical pin is to
steer the
>string oscillations to horizontal, or parallel to the soundboard.
This
>slows energy transfer to the bridge/soundboard and extends sustain
as a
>result.
>
>
>Ron N


_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________



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