A tenor bridge conversion

[Farrell]

"As to why the manufacturers did it their way, I can only assume that it was to keep the harmonics in line as far down the scale as was possible."

Boy, do you really think that is the reason? Isn't there some tiny chance that it's CHEAPER - as in cutting corners?

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  When the strings in the low tenor are not long enough for a short piano, the designer lowers the tension so that the string can achieve the required frequency.  Unfortunately when this happens, the string makes more of a boing...boing...  type sound when it is at such low tension. This would explain the voicing difficulties. Also when a string is at such low tension it induces tuning instability because a very slight expansion or contraction of the soundboard produces a much greater effect on a low tension string than a high tension string. Take for example the case of the Yamaha GH1; you will always find that the low tenor is always the first part of the scale to go out of tune and is usually way out more than any other part of the scale. The transition bridge is a remedy for this tuning instability; by decreasing the length of the tenor strings so that they can be converted to wound strings which will be heavier and therefore produce the required  low frequency at a much higher tension. 

  As to why the manufacturers did it their way, I can only assume that it was to keep the harmonics in line as far down the scale as was possible. No matter how well a scale is designed there will always be a noticeable change in the harmonic content of the sound as soon as you reach the bass crossover point i.e. the change from plain strings to wound strings.

  AF
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