Seating/false beats

[Horace Greeley]

Susan,

Such fun.

More thoughts:

>If there's a groove in the pin, doesn't that imply that the string was up
>there quite awhile, sawing away?

Depends on what you mean by "quite a while".  Just because the bridge pin
is supposed to be steel, doesn't mean it's very hard.

> We seem to have been assuming it hops up,
>but wouldn't it just creep up, reach the limited height that tension and
>downbearing allowed, and then proceed to vibrate and groove the pin?

I think that this is basically correct.  However, I have also had the same
kind of experience related by Joel R., wherein a _very_ heavily used piano
changes _radically_ within a relatively short period of time.

>If so, this would support (relatively) frequent seating as a procedure. If
>the string wasn't up there long enough to groove the pin, it wouldn't have
>the indentation to hang up on.
>

In theory, it does support relatively frequent seating.  However, I remain
greatly concerned about the quality/quantity of contact with the bridge
itself.

>If CA is put on when the pins are new, do the strings ride up at all?

I played with this for a while, and did not notice any substantive improvement.

>Is there some form of lubrication, also when the bridge was new, which would
>prevent them ever creeping up (if creeping is what they do), without
>clogging the tone?

Yep, it's called graphite.

>Question: Has anyone checked uprights to see if unseated strings there make
>grooves? If so, it would imply that the "upward" force of the hammer isn't
>what's making them ride up, since the hammers hit the opposite sides of the
>strings.
>

Yes, it's one of the first things to do on S&S 1098.  My sense of this is
that changes in
temperature/humidity have more to do with these issues than the hammers do
- in most cases.  On the other hand, it would be a mistake to not pay
attention to the effect of the hammers, particularly in larger, performance
instruments.


Best.

Horace




Horace Greeley			hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu

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