1 string, 2 strings, 3 strings or more

[Kevin S. Riggs]

Thanks for the replies Ron and Dave.

 I'll try to find a copy of  "Theory And Practice of Piano Construction"
by William B. White, 1975, for my perusal. Is it still in print?

Thanks for the info Ron, I had never even considered hammer wear due to
surface contact area. But I'm not quite clear on one matter. How is it
that three strings are louder than two, are louder than one, given
exactly the same energy input into the system? From what area of the
sound envelope is the energy taken, and distributed to where, to
increase apparent loudness? Are attack and sustain areas modified
through impedance/mass balancing to give a similar timbre/loudness in
the transition between monochord unisons and bichord unisons?
 I understand and like the idea that voicing is disaster (damage)
control. Only needed to compensate for variations in felt resiliency/
density or uneven design/manufacturing (or even room) characteristics.
Kind of puts it in the proper perspective for me.
 As far as the do it yourself assembly puzzle is concerned, I am very
willing to see where each of the pieces fit on my own. However, me
thinks there are more than four corners to the puzzle. The picture on
the box is faded, some extra pieces included, and some important ones
missing.
 By the way folks, coming from a "bleeding edge" of communications
technology background, the piano technicians community is the most
wonderful culture shock I have experienced. (You mean, you can tell
me the secret of the decoder ring and not have to kill me afterwards?!)

Thanks all,

Kevin Riggs,
Associate (not for long!) in RTP, NC