I used to use a similar method but pushed away from the pin and angled slightly down. My thinking was to relieve all pressure on the pin and at the same time assure a slight down pressure. That way pin friction was out of the way. Seemed to work pretty well too. Now I play it even safer. The thing is Ron N is very correct in expressing concern about causing a recessed notch edge with a negative bearing surface for the string. But this is easy to avoid really. A 8 mm soft wood dowel placed square on the surface of the string behind the pin on the bridge itself tapped lightly simply can not create that condition. Either the bridge surface is parallel to the undeflected string or the highest point of deflection is at either notch (assuming a flat bridge surface) Ofte as not the highest spot is at the front bridge pin. If you tap the string down there as mentioned above the worst that can happen is that you simply lower the notch vertically. The high spot may move back a bit... but as long as the angle from the high spot of the bridge down to the pin/notch is less steep then the angle the string would take unhindered from the high spot out to the front termination... then there is no way for the string to not have solid contact with the bridge at the pin. That is unless the high spot of the bridge is lower then the undeflected string is. I'm not suggesting one gets all liberal and beat the string down solid this way... I'm just illustrating that careful seating is possible in a way that will not damage the bridge in any sense of the word. A very slight tap is all you need. If you tilt your dowel just a tad backwards to be extra safe... Damage just aint going to happen. Cheers RicB --------- I think it's more likely that the "seating" had to do with how the string bent around the pin. Next time try "seating" the string by gently pulling or pushing the string toward the pin rather than down toward the bridge. My guess is that you will get the same result as the string bends around the pin and makes contact more with the side of the pin rather than toward the back of the pin. That will also move the bridge contact out toward the edge of the notch. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com
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