Hi Jim A couple headscratchers I have about this stance is that if you pluck an undamped strings backlength firmly then the speaking lengths fundemental is excited. Not nearly as much as with the front duplex to be sure, but it does indeed get started. If you pluck the back length of neighboring strings for that same undamped string... then nothing... at least nothing audible. Then the other point that I wonder about is how the two lengths of a string interact with the brigde. When the bridge vibrates, the two lengths can either support one anothers efforts to keep the thing vibrating, or work against each other yes ? If the two vibrate in close enough harmonic coincidence with one another then energy transfer to the bridge should be made a bit more efficient. Doesnt that mean a corresponding lessening of sustain and increase of power ? I'll agree that simple aural impressions alone are not sufficient to substantiate any claim. On the other hand, when seemingly vast amount of technicians have these same impressions, one has to wonder at the very least if there is truth to them. Its a very curious issue to be sure. One that deserves a bit of hard science... and probably wont get much. Cheers RicB ------------------- Jim Ellis writes: The question remains: Do the transverse modes of individual string tails couple across the bridge to those of individual string speaking lengths? I say they don't, unless the bridge termination is faulty. They DO couple to be sure, but over whole sections of the bridge - the closer the tails to the speaking lengths, the more the coupling. If anyone can send me hard measured data to prove me wrong - not just aural impressions - I'll change my stand in a heart-beat, but until then, I'll maintain it.
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