Bridge pin angles

[Phillip Ford]

>
>Just trying to hold up my end - even if I'm late getting to it. <G> 
>I've thought a lot about this through the years, and I think you're 
>right that we need to know what the tolerances are and what we can 
>do to get a more equitable split among the available factors. But I 
>wonder what it is exactly that we think we want? How easily, for 
>instance, do we want a string to render through a bridge? How low a 
>friction level can we tolerate before we get weird pitch WOWs in the 
>attack? Or would we?

Interesting question.  Perhaps there is some lower level of tolerance 
for friction, below which we get some 'interesting' phenomena which 
we don't want.

>  We know that pounding too hard while tuning can leave front section 
>tensions too high, and speaking pitch will creep up as the string 
>renders across the V bar or agraffe. How does that work with 
>bridges, and how can we control it? I don't have answers. I do think 
>that, although there are surely better ways, the present system 
>generally works very well as a cheap, easily built and tolerant 
>string termination system.

I agree, in spite of my kvetching about bridge pins.

>  The only major drawback I see is that the cap material isn't 
>dimensionally stable, and the stresses resulting from that exceed 
>the compressive resistance of the material. If the cap didn't change 
>dimension, the notch edge wouldn't crush below the string, and the 
>pin likely wouldn't get loose (or not AS loose), and the weird tonal 
>anomalies that send the tuners digging in their cases for brass 
>punches and little bitty hammers wouldn't be in every piano we tune. 
>A decent capping material should take care of a large percentage of 
>our bridge maintenance problems, leaving us more time to fuss with 
>duplexes and such.

Agreed.

>  The system might just not be all that broke, and that may be all 
>the research needed to adequately fix it. I still like the notion of 
>bridge agraffes though.
>Ron N

So do I.

Phil F