Loose Plate bolts = ?

[Ron Nossaman]

Incoming!!

While I'm whipped up into the proverbial froth here (so's not to waste the
adrenaline), it seems like a good time to bring up another of the little
knock down, drag out, last forever, friendly little debates that make life
in the piano lane worthwhile. 

In the twenty - plus years I've been in this business, I haven't ONCE made a
definite correlation between tuning instability and loose plate bolts, let
alone strings needing tapped down on bridges (but we can save that one for
round two). 

I do get a definite correlation between humidity fluctuations and tuning
instability, according to my tuning records. I'd like someone to explain to
me how loose plate bolts adversely affect tuning stability. I don't see how
it could make a significant difference. If it's a matter of me not paying
attention, I'll have to admit that's possible, but you can't use that as an
argument because I already brought it up first. What I'm more interested in
here, is a real world physics explanation of how this is possible.

 Ron