Thanks for the reply Joe. I thought I would get more responses to the question. I agree with you on too much downbearing. That's why I posted the question, "how much is too much". At some point I would think you would be inhibiting the soundboard from vibrating freely. Al G From: Joseph Garrett Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 11:27 AM To: pianotech Subject: Re: [pianotech] Downbearing criteria Al G said: "I never got a response to this question. Did my email get through?" I expected sum of dem X=purts ta anser dat!! But dey didn't, so I'll try. (see below) "I am restringing a Steinway M. Before I pulled the strings I read a composite down bearing of 10 to 12 thousandths across the bass and tenor bridges with a dial gauge micrometer. My question is, how much downbearing is too much. Is 10 to 12 thousandths too much. At what point would it be worth pulling the plate to adjust it. The soundboard and bridges are in good condition." Al, I like to see approx. .010" downbearing on the bass bridge; nothing less than .005" on the tenor end of the long bridge, up to the killer octave area. At that point, I'd prefer that the downbearing increas to around .020" on the top of the long bridge, (note 88). As long as you have some throughout, you are good to go in my estimation. Sometimes too much is worse than none, IMHO! Hope that answers your question. Regards, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon) Captain, Tool Police Squares R I -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090730/47d72ae4/attachment.htm>
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