Hi Mike... didnt see this as your posts come through on my reader with everything in italics... so it looks like you've just pressed the send button without writing a reply. Indeed... if there is any <<appropriate>> string seating procedure... (and I am quite sure there is) this is the best course by far. Accuracy doesnt work into the picture at all.... the point is that the string should be in solid contact with the bridge surface... but not buried into the wood... and most certainly does one not want to create a groove in the bridge that has an even very short segment indented so low as to be below the strings deflection line... as is extremely easy to do when pressure is put on the string outside of the string segment on the bridge surface itself. Neither is there any preferable goal attained by putting pressure sideways against the bridge pin. The pin will force a depression in the surface area of the bridge pin hole long before any thing of substance will happen to the string itself, and this will do nothing but weaken the termination... usually a prime reason for the appearance of cracks on the bridge cap seen so often reaching down the notch at near perpendicular angles from the bridge pins themselves. As someone else said... just because some fellow with 50 years experience tells you something doesn't make it true... regardless of the amount of respect he / she has in the business. Cheers RicB For those who prefer to seat their strings directly on the bridge I did learn an alternative method, from the same source, using a standard upright hammer shank, place the tip of the shank on the string on top of the bridge toward the pin and tap it lightly with the side of a pliers. If you strike too hard, you will only split the shank! Repeat both sides of each string, you will find this slower, more expensive( you'll split a lot of hammer shanks) and not as accurate as the other method but for those of you afraid of trying something new that might actually work, this would be the ticket! Mike
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC