[CAUT] False Beats and George Winston

[RicB]

Hi  all


False beats and falseness in general has become rather a special 
interest of mine since meeting various view points on the subject via 
this and the pianotech list through the years.  In general, I have come 
to lean very heavily in the direction being very careful about anything 
to do with the terminations themselves.

The bridge termination is especially easy to damage, or worsen.  If the 
idea of any procedure relating to the string at the bridge pin is to 
increase the solidity and precision of the termination, then it strikes 
me as very odd indeed that so many of the things we have been advised to 
do through the years do the opposite, and perhaps do other things as well.

Some of you have read my article on the subject which attempts not to 
take sides on the issue in general, but illustrate some consequences of 
conditions that can be created by various seating procedures.  In 
general I would be very skeptical to any pressure put on the string out 
on its speaking length with the single exception of light pressure away 
from the bridge pin... and not towards it.

With all respect to my friends who have other takes... I'll say the 
following...

The bend around the pin idea has never made sense to me. It is very easy 
to show that on the very first movement of the tuning pin, any kink or 
bend created no longer resides exactly at the bridge pin... hence one 
has decreased termination precision and simply put a probably unwanted 
kink in the string. Further the pressure needed to create a bend will 
far too significantly stress the wood at the bridge surface area where 
the bridge pin enters, with all the potential for contributing to a 
springy termination that carries with it. It is a recipe for creating 
false beats. The same can be said for any seating procedure that causes 
an indentation on the bridge surface that is lower then the deflection 
line the string will take from its highest point of deflection on the 
bridge to the front termination. This simply creates a recessed notch 
condition.

Front termination procedures need to vary depending on the type of 
termination you are dealing with. Capo terminations are quite a bit more 
varied then one might think. There are hard and wide U shapes, thin and 
not so hard V shapes and various counter bearing schemes that are meant 
to work with either. And there are solutions in between.  Ron Overs uses 
for example a very hard and quite thin V shape, which requires a lower 
counter bearing angle.  In general tho.. the front termination needs to 
be precise as possible. 

It is precision of terminations, and in the case of the bridge a 
sufficient enough degree of massyness that primarily influence the 
presence or lack of falseness.  The strings themselves can also be the 
problem...in which case it is better to simply change the string then 
start bending, stressing, banging, or scraping various termination elements.

In your Yamaha, I would suggest the following for the top octave.  
Remove all strings, and assuming the bridge surface does not have very 
deep indentations that prohibit significant improvement without dealing 
with these, CA the bridge pin holes as much as the wood will take.. or 
remove pins and epoxy new ones of same size in again.  While the strings 
are off re-profile the capo. The Yamaha uses a wide and rounded 
termination and the cleaner it is from grooves the better. One can not 
remove much or hardly any of the string contact area of the capo without 
forcing a re-hardening of the capo, but one can remove enough to get rid 
of the worst of the grooving.  Remove the harsh edges of any grooves so 
that only the path of the groove remains visible. The speaking side of 
the termination can be pretty sharply profiled, despite the design 
calling for a U termination. I file a flat angle off first, and then 
very very lightly smooth this with something in the neighborhood of 400 
grit paper / emorycloth / what ever your preference.  I don't over pull 
new strings much when installing them, nor do I do a lot of stretching. 
And what stretching I do is in a direction away from the bridge pin, and 
as little downwards as possible.

If the string is free of defect, the bridge pin /notch are precisely in 
the same position, the bridge pin/bridge assembly massy enough, and the 
front termination clean and precise... then you will have as clean a 
sound as you can get out of any given instrument.

Cheers
RicB