Spreadsheet info / Jason Kanter

Ron Nossaman rnossaman at cox.net
Sat Dec 16 12:45:04 MST 2006


> Terry
> 
> I was reacting to Jason's spreadsheet which could "float" the string 
> diameters, as opposed to making them actual sizes. Of course that's not 
> possible but I just thought that if you let the bridge pin placement 
> wander a bit (float) to adjust speaking lengths as compensation for 
> changing wire sizes, you could smooth out the tensions that way.
> 
> Hope that's a little clearer.
> 
> Tom Cole

I tune a Young Chang every year or two (whether it needs it or 
not) that has an equal tension scale. The first time I tuned 
it, I noticed that the unison placement of plain wire on the 
bridge was in groups of four or six, with speaking lengths 
longer at the low end of the groupings, and shorter at the 
high ends, than a straight log progression. The bass was 
arranged so the monochords were all of approximately the same 
tension, and the bichords also all about the same, though 
different from either plain wire, or monochords. I don't see 
that there is any detectable advantage to making the scale 
equal tension, but in this case it is a nicer scale than most 
(if not all) of the Famousname pianos of various manufacture 
that I've seen. Not because of the equal tension, but rather 
the attention to transitions.
Ron N


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