<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha= rset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f"> <DIV>One of our piano faculty is practicing a George Crumm piece that requir= es her to strum and pluck strings, and dampen half way with her fingers= . She asked me if I could remove the cross beam so she can get to the string= s easier. She said a friend of hers does this kind of music a lot, and&= nbsp;remove this bar herself. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Has anyone ever done this? What effect does it have on stability, tunin= g, stress loads, etc.? If it doesn't have any effect, why is it there?<= /DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano tuner/technician<BR>School of Music<BR>Universit= y of Alabama<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>