More on soundboard crown

[Sarah Fox]

Oooops...  That one was meant to be sent in private.

<sigh>

Serves me right for trying to be functional in the morning.  Please ignore.

I'll just crawl away, now...

Peace,
Sarah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@gendernet.org>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: More on soundboard crown


> Hi Terry,
>
> >Well, you blew it. Now you are in the middle of it AND ITS ALL YOUR
> FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> LOL!  Ack!  I innocently wandered between two battling elk and tried to
have
> an intelligent exchange with one of them.  How stupid is that?!  I blame
the
> virus.  Yes, that's right.  The virus.  (really)  It congested internet
> traffic enough that much of my email was delayed (arriving quite out of
> order), and made less sense. <groan>
>
> > I'm having a hard time following your paper clip experiment. Where and
how
> is the paper clip supported/immobilized? Is the clip straightened out and
> supported at the two ends and depressed in the middle? Where is the leaf
> spring situated, etc. Please clarify.
>
> It doesn't matter.  A spring is a spring.  Supported on two ends or
> supported only on one end (either one or both), it's the same experiment.
> The point is that when the leaf spring is added to the mix, BOTH must now
be
> displaced with the finger in combination.
>
> Other matters...
>
> I was kinda hoping you would hop on board as someone who wants to develop
> the carbon fiber soundboard!  ;-)  Hey, there are always ways nature can
be
> improved.  Consider the carbon fiber tree in Florida -- able to withstand
> any hurricane.  Also greater compliance to higher frequencies and lower
> inertia would mean that the tree would be less susceptible to damage when
> whacked by flying limbs from conventional trees and bits and pieces of
your
> houses down there.  Definitely a useful evolutionary advancement!
>
> Seriously, take a look at the rainsong.com website and read their blurb
> about the sound of their carbon fiber boards.  It looks like carbon fiber
> behaves a lot like steel (e.g. the 5 lectures, where you can listen to a
> sound file of a steel piano).
>
> I checked with the stringed instrument manufacturer, and they only do
cellos
> and double basses.  They're still trying to figure out the violin and
viola.
> A guitar is intermediate in size and pitch and apparently sounds very
> "different" from a wooden one.  (There's more tolerance for that in the
> guitar world, I suspect.)  The common thread is that they're all having
> trouble with too much responsiveness on the high frequency end, such that
> their instruments do not resemble the wooden ones.  (They respond TOO
well.)
> It's difficult to make something more responsive, but making it less
> responsive (e.g. with damping characteristics) is easy.  Fine tuning the
> inefficiencies may take a bit more work, but it can be done.
>
> Might you consider trying this?  Florida's a bit out of the way for me,
but
> I think I'd enjoy collaborating on a carbon fiber soundboard with someone.
> You're intellectually curious and industrious, and you're moving into new
> areas of practice.  I'm hungry (figuratively), I know acoustics, and I
could
> use some new avenues for income besides the stock market <groan>.  I've
> thought about how to replicate the treble inefficiencies, and I have an
idea
> or two.  This could work.
>
> Also, consider your market.  You Floridians live in steam.  Wouldn't it be
> great to have a soundboard that doesn't "care" about the humidity?  Think
of
> pianos by the poolside.  Think of cruise ships!  ;-)  Consider the larger
> commercial potential.  A means for replicating wood's high frequency loss
> would certaintly be worthy of a patent, and the idea could be sold to the
> manufacturers.  We could kill the killer octave!  ;-)
>
> Seriously, would you be interested in such a thing????
>
> Peace,
> Sarah
>
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