<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV>On Apr 16, 2007, at 5:29 AM, RicB wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">There is so much micro movement going on between the bridge / bridge pins / bridge interface with the soundboard that is on a scale large enough to contribute directly to a single string beat condition that it is actually quite surprising the loose pin explanation got started in the first place... let alone gained so much steam.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Hi Ric,</DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Interesting thoughts on the "false beat" phenomenon. As to why the loose pin explanation got started: when it is possible in many, many cases to clear up false beats by adding a "filler" material next to the pin, one begins to make assumptions <g>. I guess your contention is that in applying those materials (CA, epoxy) you are doing more to stiffen the termination area than to fill the gap. Could be. One way or another, it has a lot to do with the pin being firmly (relatively speaking) rooted.</DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>I think some high speed videography might yield real information on this issue, as opposed to the conjectures we mostly deal with. Taking a string that is producing a noticeable false beat, focusing close up on the bridge pin, seeing whether the pin itself moves, and whether there is a regular frequency that can be associated with the frequency of the false beat.</DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>In any event, from a practical standpoint CA and epoxy are good cures for much falseness. Crisp terminations (well shaped capo or machined/polished agraffes, new bridge pins without nicks and grooves, pins firmly held by the bridge, good notching) yield clean sound, in my experience.</DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>As to your experiment of placing a centerpin between string and bridge cap, I'm not sure it proves anything about loose bridge pins (maybe it says something about notching). By raising the string up the angled pin, you are greatly increasing the side pressure on that pin, hence "stiffening it against the side of its hole." You are also somewhat increasing the lever advantage of the string versus the pin, increasing that effect (of pushing it firmly against the far side of the hole). So I think, contrary to your reasoning, that you are reducing the likelihood of flagpoling.<BR><DIV><DIV>Regards,</DIV><DIV>Fred Sturm</DIV><DIV>University of New Mexico</DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">fssturm@unm.edu</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></BODY></HTML>