Bridges: Chew on this

[Jim_Harvey@yca.ccmail.compuserve.com]

     I'm submitting the following for the group to consider. It caught my
     attention as an item of theoretical consideration while reading the
     October '95 "Voicing Tool" (Wichita newsletter). Permission to use the
     extracted portion has been granted by Ron Nossaman, author & editor.

     ----- Begin excerpt

     "...There is another wonderful mystery concerning the way bridges are
     made (at least it amuses me {I know, what doesn't?}) is what
     determines the stagger direction of the strings across the top? Is
     there a scientific reason, or is it specific to the country of origin?
     I don't know if this follows throughout the lines, but the last Kawai
     grand I tuned had strings staggering to the right, and the last
     Yamaha, to the left. Why? Apparently it's not country specific. This
     intrigues me. I would love to know the rationale behind this. Do you
     suppose it depends on whether the designer was left or right handed?
     Does it seem to you that the side torque of the stagger on a bridge
     running around forty-five degrees from the direction of the string
     would torque the bridge forward or back more with a tension change?
     This is another one I'd like to play with when I'm too rich to work
     and have plenty of spare time."

     "Looking at it logically, it can go all sorts of ways, depending on
     what proves to be important about the physics involved. I suppose I'll
     never know. One more entry in my personal archive of ignorance...".

     ------ End quoted material

     I promised to report any worthwhile replies to this query back to Ron.
     He advised he may run a followup piece (using the replies) in his
     newsletter. Therefore, global permission to use [your] reply is
     implied, unless you state otherwise. Thanks!

     Jim Harvey, RPT