Photo of Stephen Paulello's concert grand

[David C. Stanwood]

Hi Ron,

Here is a closeup shot of the bass bridge on Stephan's Grand:

http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/P1110331web.jpg

I beleive the fixture is screwed into position once there is some tension
on the bass strings thereby eliminating any net side pressure on the
bridge.  I think this is a very good idea, (zero side pressure).  We'll see
how the brass fixture holds up in 50 years....  In regards to the issue of
side pressure, I had an interesting experience examining a Falcone concert
grand for a client some years ago.  It was the second one they made.  I
noticed that when sighting down the bass strings, they all took a hard left
turn at the bridge.  When  a string was streched between the hitch pin and
the agraffe the point of crossing on the bridge was about 3mm off the line.
 The side pressure on the bridge must have been enormous!  Falcone
corrected the mistake by recapping the bridge and aligning the bridge pins
so that they were on the line and there was no side pressure on the bridge.
 The same strings were used so the only variable changed was the bridge pin
positions.  The improvement to the tone was amazing.  It's hard to describe
but it was just a lot fuller and nicer sounding...   I imagine that having
good bridge alignment side to side in the treble makes for better tone as
well....

Another interesting feature on the Paullelo Concert grand is his screw
adjustable down bearing feature:

http://www.stanwoodpiano.com/P1110329web.jpg

We were impressed with the high quality of this piano which we saw last
January at Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Paris.  We also enjoyed the good
and likable nature of the maker Stephan Paullelo who is also a fine pianist!

David Stanwood














>All,
>
>For those who may be interested, I have uploaded an interim page to 
>my website, which contains an image of Stephen Paulello's concert 
>grand. Please find the page at;
>
>http://overspianos.com.au/plello.html
>
>This page is, as yet, accessible only via the above link, and not 
>directly from the index of my website. Stephen has expressed an 
>interest in testing our action, with a view to using it for his new 
>217 cm grand piano, which he is designing at present.
>
>Regards,
>Ron O.