<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16640" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY><FONT size=2> <P><BR><BR>| In the case of the 5'10" Steinway 'O' with a suspended <BR>| bridge and a bottom A length of 139 cm. it could well be<BR>| argued that, all other things being equal, the apron could be<BR>| considerably reduced or even removed altogether, resulting in<BR>| a bottom A length of, say, 130 cm.<BR>| and tonal results achieved which most people would see as an<BR>| improvement.  This is a plausible hypothesis because it still<BR>| leaves the piano with string lengths that are quite<BR>| acceptable and even common in a piano of that length.<BR>| JD<BR><BR><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">In some cases I have simply undercut the end of the bass bridge to avoid using a cantilever. In the case of the piano shown below I removed the cantilever and undercut the end of the bridge back to the c/l of the rib immediately below the soundboard. This is a fairly short undercut; I've gone as far back as 60 to 75 mm on shorter pianos. Just as effective at putting the bridge contact point back away from the inner rim without most of the negative side affects of the cantilever.<BR><BR><IMG height=320 hspace=12 src="cid:968161820@03052008-371C" width=427 align=left v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"></FONT></P> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080 size=3></FONT> </DIV> <P><BR><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">(Yes, I know I should have used a shorter loop on the bass strings.) </FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Del</FONT></FONT><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"> </FONT></P></BODY></HTML>