Wapin bridge

David M. Porritt dm.porritt@verizon.net
Fri, 25 Jan 2002 10:23:47 -0600


Carl:

The piano had previously been rebuilt very well.  It was a very nice
instrument with new Renner parts, strings, etc.  A couple of years
ago the bridge was modified ala Wapin.  Actually I participated in
the process under the direction of Tim Coates and became a licensed
Wapin installer at that time.  Nothing additional was done to it,
just the Wapin installation.  It really does have a nice round, well
focused sound with nice decay and a remarkable lack of those zings,
and extraneous noises we usually associate with termination problems.
 I'm not particularly a Wapin evangelist, but this really made a nice
and significant difference.

dave

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

On 1/24/2002 at 7:29 PM Carl Meyer wrote:

>What else was done to the piano along with the Wapinization?
>
>Carl Meyer  Assoc. PTG
>Santa Clara, California
>cmpiano@attbi.com 
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "David M. Porritt" <dm.porritt@verizon.net>
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 4:59 PM
>Subject: Re: Wapin bridge
>
>
>> 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
>> _____________________________
>>


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




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