[CAUT] Getting straight

[Fred Sturm]

Hi RIc,
	This was a controlled experiment with solid terminations. So Jim  
Ellis has taken termination (and any soundboard or bridge influences)  
out of the picture, and has been able to produce, consistently, a  
"false" beating string based only on a single parameter: a rotation  
away from vertical and horizontal of the residual curl of the wire.  
That's how I interpret his article.
	Now in real life, there may be multiple contributing factors, but  
from the description of the experiment, it seems that Jim has  
effectively isolated a single cause. As to exactly how that translates  
to field experience, that is another question.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Aug 11, 2008, at 3:34 PM, Richard Brekne wrote:

> I would like to know more closely just what kind of false beat this  
> exact <<cause>> is referring to. In particular whether or not this  
> false beat responds to a change in posture / mass of the compound  
> bridge termination most commonly found in pianos.
>
> Strikes me as important to re-read his opening statements as to the  
> basics of what false beats actually are.  If, and I think he is, he  
> is referring to the classic false beat that we talk about so  
> often... then we are quickly in a range of contributing factors and  
> not into distinct causes per sé.
> Let me illustrate.
> If a false beat ala the kind Jim describes is also (simultaneously)  
> the kind that responds to a screwdriver being pressed onto the  
> bridge pin then clearly there are at least two factors involved in  
> this particular type of instance. One... the false beat occurs when  
> the curl is at a particular orientation to the string plane AND the  
> false beat occurs given a given massyness condition at the bridge  
> termination (which can be affected by addition/subtraction as  
> demonstrated by the screwdriver).
>
> This condition, if occurant  then clearly shows that the classic  
> false beat is not caused by any one thing at all, but by a given  
> combination of events that allows the basic condition of the false  
> beat as defined to occur.
>
> If this eventually can be shown to be true... then it may be  
> possible (tho I do not say that it actually is) to identify some  
> exclusionary condition which preempts the false beat condition from  
> occurring at all. In other words.. by looking at the requirements  
> for the phenomenon, one may be able to find a way of ruling out them  
> being filled in the first place.
>
> It should be remembered that Jims experimental environment could not  
> account for the influence of the bridge itself, the soundboard, and  
> the interaction of the two in the end vibration that is transmitted  
> out into the air.  It is entirely possible then that a string that  
> is beating such that two errant but close frequencies is present,  
> but the expected resultant false beat is canceled by some mechanism  
> laying between the string and its apparent termination, and the end  
> sound we hear.
>
> Cheers
> RicB