Yamaha out of tune

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> . . . . Hold it, hold it, just a minute here. I've read a few posts to this
> effect,
> and I'd like to take exception - pending meaningful clarification, or
> demonstration. The point is that the bolts don't get loose in these systems
> (even though it's not the bolts that get loose in the first place in a
> conventional system, but the compression of the dowels/blocks/panel the
> plate sets on that makes it appear so).

Hear, hear!  I've said essentially the same thing in the Journal.  But who reads
that old rag?


> Since they don't "get loose", they
> don't need tightened. If you try to tighten them and they don't move,
> wouldn't you stop trying to tighten them? If you insist on turning a plate
> bolt that won't move, you could possibly twist the head off, but wouldn't
> any tech with the basic sense God gave a rubber duck know better than to
> force a piece of hardware to that extreme?

No.  (And there is evidence to back this up!)


> If it won't move, isn't it
> already tight????? How in the name of all that is definably reasonable could
> the plate be damaged in this process? It's not being forced down by the
> tightening, it's only being compressed under the bolt head. Any tech that
> can crush a piano plate by compression under a bolt head by application of a
> wrench of any conceivable flavor can have anything they want from me by the
> simple act of looming overhead, tearing the limbs off a few trees, and
> asking nicely. Yes sir Bud, here you go! Anything else? Sorry Frank, this
> isn't aimed specifically at you, I would just like to see this kind of thing
> cleared up before it passes into industry legend and the bumper stickers are
> issued. After that happens, it's impossible to flush out.

There is only one scenario that I can think of in which a piano plate can be
damage by over-tightening the bolts/screws.  This is when the support mechanism
-- be it dowels, wedges, whatever -- is located some distance from the
bolt/screw and when, simultaneously, the plate is rather thin.  I have found one
Steinway plate with this combination -- and, yes, there was a slight crack in
the plate flange.


> For the record, pending REAL evidence to the contrary, you can't hurt the
> Baldwin or Yamaha floating plate system by tightening the bolts, unless you
> insist on tightening bolts that are already tight, which will most probably
> always be the case in either of these plate mounting systems. Go forth and
> leave 'em alone. That is all.
>
> "I feel better now, Dave."
>          - HAL 9000 -
>
>  Ron

Good.

Del