Oooops... That one was meant to be sent in private. <sigh> Serves me right for trying to be functional in the morning. Please ignore. I'll just crawl away, now... Peace, Sarah ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Fox" <sarah@gendernet.org> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 10:42 AM Subject: Re: More on soundboard crown > Hi Terry, > > >Well, you blew it. Now you are in the middle of it AND ITS ALL YOUR > FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > LOL! Ack! I innocently wandered between two battling elk and tried to have > an intelligent exchange with one of them. How stupid is that?! I blame the > virus. Yes, that's right. The virus. (really) It congested internet > traffic enough that much of my email was delayed (arriving quite out of > order), and made less sense. <groan> > > > I'm having a hard time following your paper clip experiment. Where and how > is the paper clip supported/immobilized? Is the clip straightened out and > supported at the two ends and depressed in the middle? Where is the leaf > spring situated, etc. Please clarify. > > It doesn't matter. A spring is a spring. Supported on two ends or > supported only on one end (either one or both), it's the same experiment. > The point is that when the leaf spring is added to the mix, BOTH must now be > displaced with the finger in combination. > > Other matters... > > I was kinda hoping you would hop on board as someone who wants to develop > the carbon fiber soundboard! ;-) Hey, there are always ways nature can be > improved. Consider the carbon fiber tree in Florida -- able to withstand > any hurricane. Also greater compliance to higher frequencies and lower > inertia would mean that the tree would be less susceptible to damage when > whacked by flying limbs from conventional trees and bits and pieces of your > houses down there. Definitely a useful evolutionary advancement! > > Seriously, take a look at the rainsong.com website and read their blurb > about the sound of their carbon fiber boards. It looks like carbon fiber > behaves a lot like steel (e.g. the 5 lectures, where you can listen to a > sound file of a steel piano). > > I checked with the stringed instrument manufacturer, and they only do cellos > and double basses. They're still trying to figure out the violin and viola. > A guitar is intermediate in size and pitch and apparently sounds very > "different" from a wooden one. (There's more tolerance for that in the > guitar world, I suspect.) The common thread is that they're all having > trouble with too much responsiveness on the high frequency end, such that > their instruments do not resemble the wooden ones. (They respond TOO well.) > It's difficult to make something more responsive, but making it less > responsive (e.g. with damping characteristics) is easy. Fine tuning the > inefficiencies may take a bit more work, but it can be done. > > Might you consider trying this? Florida's a bit out of the way for me, but > I think I'd enjoy collaborating on a carbon fiber soundboard with someone. > You're intellectually curious and industrious, and you're moving into new > areas of practice. I'm hungry (figuratively), I know acoustics, and I could > use some new avenues for income besides the stock market <groan>. I've > thought about how to replicate the treble inefficiencies, and I have an idea > or two. This could work. > > Also, consider your market. You Floridians live in steam. Wouldn't it be > great to have a soundboard that doesn't "care" about the humidity? Think of > pianos by the poolside. Think of cruise ships! ;-) Consider the larger > commercial potential. A means for replicating wood's high frequency loss > would certaintly be worthy of a patent, and the idea could be sold to the > manufacturers. We could kill the killer octave! ;-) > > Seriously, would you be interested in such a thing???? > > Peace, > Sarah > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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