[pianotech] Worst Bass/Tenor Crossover in Universe

[Encore Pianos]

"The end result is that pressure on the sounding board has been greatly
reduced, thereby further increasing acoustic efficiency."  They seem to be
making the claim that reducing the pressure on the soundboard will always
result in an increase of acoustic efficiency.  We know that in certain
circumstances with a particular board and it's loading requirements, that
may be the case if the board has already been excessively loaded with
downbearing, and we lighten the load by adjusting the plate height and/or
the hitch pins.  But in all other circumstances that would not be true.
They offer no evidence why a bridge agraffe would need to load a board by a
different quantifiable amount than a traditional bridge, all else being
equal.

 

The brighter spectrum of overtones likely comes from a somewhat less secure
termination at the string bearing point on the speaking length, by way of
comparison to a well-functioning notched and pinned bridge. 

 

Interestingly, the Steingraeber Phoenix I listened to was a very nice
instrument in many ways.  But it also sounded to me like a piano that I
thought might be improved by increasing the downbearing somewhat.  As good
as it was, it lacked somewhat in dynamism to my ear.

 

Will

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Jim Ialeggio
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 6:39 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Worst Bass/Tenor Crossover in Universe

 

Del wrote:

<...it will take more than marketing gobble-d-gook to convince me.

Looks like I got that wrong, regarding the zero downbearing. The various
marketing spiels I've heard lead me to believe that downbearing with the
phoenix agraffes was zip. However, looking at Atlantic music's website, I
see the following:

"With the new bridge agraffes, tensile force in the string is used to
develop high contact loads between the strings and the bridge cap via
independent knife edges. This system permits adjustment of the balance of
forces within each individual agraffe. New adjustable hitch pins were
developed so that the amount of down bearing on the bridge can be adjusted
to within 1/100 of a millimeter. The end result is that pressure on the
sounding board has been greatly reduced, thereby further increasing acoustic
efficiency. The agraffes have achieved a perceptibly altered, brighter
spectrum of overtones, more clarity, increased sustain and greater volume."

That quote does not say zero downbearing. It seems to infer that downbearing
is reduced, but as usual, the spiel is less than informative.


Jim  Ialeggio




-- 
Jim Ialeggio   
jim at grandpianosolutions.com
978 425-9026
Shirley Center, MA
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20130108/2c9cc73a/attachment.htm>