The one I used definitely helped. Anything that will stiffen the area will no doubt work. It is not quite apparent to me why stiffening the belly rail helps in similar fashion to solutions such as riblets are purported to do, but evidently this is the case. Strikes me as a bit odd tho that stiffening the area directly under the bridge in the killer octave region and stiffening the belly rail along this same area should effect effectively the same kind of result... but there is a lot I don't understand. Some years ago Del F. was experimenting with some very strong springs appropriately placed directly under the bridge and supported by additional beams attached to the understructure. I've been working on a scheme using high power magnets (and no... I am not worried about pacemakers for crimminy sakes) in opposing orientation. This removes any physical coupling from the understructure to the soundboard and adds minimal mass. The idea is actually to provide for a to some degree adjustable downbearing support for a SB system that is then less dependent on the rib structure for its net strength. But I suppose the idea should world just dandy for providing more effective stiffness under the bridge in the affected area. Cheers RicB I have several customers that own Steinway D's in there home and from time to time are interested in having me re-voice their pianos to build up the area of the killer octave. I am reluctant to do this because the pianos sound very even going thru these areas. Does the Pianotec treble tone resonator work in situations such as this? Are there any negative side effects to it at all?
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