David, Comments interspersed. > >>Could the sounding board have a negative crown (like a dish), and >>the downbearing be "upbearing?" From a physical standpoint, yes. >>There would be no difference in the behavior of the system, though >>the bridge would peel off the sounding board pretty quickly and the >>design of the bridge pins would be interesting. I agree that the design of bridge 'pins' would be interesting. However, agraffes would work in this configuration. Why would the bridge peel off? Stress level on the joint should not be that high. >> >>Or, in another possible configuration, could the sounding board >>have a negative crown and the downbearing still exert force >>downward? Again yes. >>(The bridge would have to be rather high.) The amount of crown (or dish) on a board is not that much. I don't see that the bridge would have to be outside the range of bridge heights that you typically see. >> The sounding board's wood would be in tension and the rim of the >>sounding board would tend to be pulled away from the frame, but >>again from a purely physical standpoint the system would work about >>like a normal piano. Structurally, of course, this configuration >>would be a disaster, but the sounding board and strings would >>behave pretty much normally if the whole works didn't peel apart. >> >>Mark Kinsler Why a disaster? Dale Erwin has a Sohmer in his shop with exactly this configuration. It's in good shape even after several decades. >Is there general agreement that these statements are correct? I >myself find it hard to reconcile. > >David Skolnik There was an exchange about this a few months ago. You might want to check the archives. Phil Ford
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