<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Esteemed colleagues:  Hi Dave I'm going to suggest something a bit radical... but very very reversable in case it has no benificial effect, and will make for a I think very interesting and easy to execute experiement. Buy 3 pairs of 35 kilo force high power natural neodymn magnets. Mount 3 of these at even spaces under the killer octave area... with at least one if not two on ribs just under the bridge in the area. Then construct a beam that fits nicely inbetween the rim braces and mount the other three so that they are exactly under the three you mounted on the underside of the soundboard.  If you want to get a bit fancy you can contrive this so that these have adjustable height screws going through the beam. You should be able to provide over around 80 kilos of repelling force... i.e. crown support in the area in question... and you should be able to adjust just how much you actually need if you want to. I'm about to run an experiement on an older piano where I install a new soundboard with ribs designed to provide optimal mass for the various areas of the panel and provide the additional needed load support with these magnets. Each magnet has around 35 kilos of force.  Opposing you can get them within a couple mm of each other safely enough for the application and get around 40 kilos of repelling force max... but in practice I'd guess around 30 would be more like it...  However... 30 kilos of upwards force is a quite significant addition.  You add nearly no mass... there is free air between the magnets so you are not coupled mass wise to the beams.... I'm personally itching to try this.  6 such magnets are quite inexpensive... Cheers RicB <blockquote>Our NY D, (1983) has developed - in the last year or so - a killer half-octave from about A#5 - E6.  I've added some mass to the bridge right under C6 and that helped a little but the problem remains.  I've been searching through the archives this morning checking for any further heroic measures I could take within the confines of my budget.     What's the general consensus of opinion about the "Treble Tone Resonator" that Pianotek sells?  While my current budget precludes a full remanufacturing I think I can manage the $155.00 for that! However, I don't want to spend even that  - nor expend the time installing it  - if it wouldn't help.     Any ideas, suggestions, experience with it etc.?????   dave</blockquote> </body> </html>