Bridge Seating (was Re: Where to notch a bridge, & relative effects ????? (Advice sought)

[Joseph Alkana]

My two cent's worth:

When replacing a broken wire, have you ever examined the bridge area to see 
where the new string resides after bringing it up to pitch? Dollars to 
doughnuts the wire in the stagger area is away from the bridge cap. Why? 
Just as in the case of new pianos (Someone mentioned Yamaha)  seemingly 
exhibiting the wire-off-the bridge-syndrome, it has to do with the stiffness 
of the wire going between two points that we call the stagger area (bridge 
pins) and lack of basic preparation.

  It's no great mystery. If you were stringing with limp, totally flexible 
material, the material (string) would flow around the stagger points (bridge 
pins) and lie flat on the bridge and against the bridge pins. We've all had 
older pianos that had the wire riding high on the bridge pin and has been 
there since the piano was strung at the factory. Until the wire is forced 
into compliance around the bridge pin, the wire will forever ride high and 
produce the false beat we are so earnestly trying to eliminate. Of course, 
by the time we observe this situation, the front of the bridge has been 
compromised and the whole bridge has probably rolled, the soundboard is in 
the process of pancaking out the other side, and the holes for the bridge 
pins have cracks like the grand canyon, but hey, the original lack of prep 
still shows as wire left high and rusty up on the bridge pin. Seating the 
wire at this point will produce only temporary lessening of false beats 
and/or stronger tone, and the symptoms will come back.

My take is that the wire on new pianos, however, may need to be seated. But 
proceed cautiously. If the wire doesn't move visually, then that step in the 
preparation process may have been done, and your ham-handed pounding of the 
wire into the bridge cap is not gonna do a blasted thing except exacerbate 
false beats, dent the bridge, torque the bridge pins and accelerate wear.

I encourage everyone to think sliding of the wire side-ways and kissing the 
bridge pin rather than pounding the wire into the bridge cap. Use your 
finger nail, drift, rod, screw driver or whatever, but  s l i d e  the wire, 
please.


Joseph Alkana RPT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey at sbcglobal.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: Bridge Seating (was Re: Where to notch a bridge,& relative 
effects ????? (Advice sought)


> The important thing is not to just casually go about seating strings.   A 
> few test seatings will visually and aurally tell you if it is needed.   If 
> I can't see the string move, I'm on to other things.   For me it is an 
> unfocused tone...buzzy that makes me go looking for a solution.   It may 
> be unlevel string/hammer connection.   I check it all out.  But, if the 
> strings are not seated the tuning will be unstable and the tone won't be 
> what it should be.   IF needed the time is before you finish that tuning. 
> I don't seat strings as a matter of course in my service call.   Certainly 
> I don't just tap along the bridge if the string isn't moving.   I come 
> back to these pianos over and over again.   I don't rarely need to seat 
> strings again.
>
> David Ilvedson, RPT
> Pacifica, CA  94044
>
>
> ----- Original message ----------------------------------------
> From: "Jonathan Finger" <pianotech at tollidee.com>
> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Received: 9/8/2006 8:51:44 AM
> Subject: Re: Bridge Seating (was Re: Where to notch a bridge,& relative 
> effects ????? (Advice sought)
>
>
>>I understand that I have yet to achieve heavy-weight status on this
>>list, and as such my post will not seem as authoritative as some, but in
>>general I think there are some benefits to seating strings.
>>To say a string can never become un-seated is to assume it was seated
>>properly in the first place.  Having worked in the factory setting, and
>>in the rebuilding shop, I can tell you that many pianos are coming out
>>of the factory with sloppy string work.
>>I don't see why there's a "don't try this at home" attitude for this
>>sort of thing.
>>Not only would I encourage techs to seat strings more often, but bridge
>>pins as well. (for different reasons)
>>Scaring techs away from doing detailed work isn't going to raise the bar
>>and create technicians out of tuners.
>>If you think seating strings might help, try gently seating them.  Get a
>>brass drift, and a very light hammer, and try tapping a few right at the
>>pin, and at the bend (trying to "confirm" the bend in the string).
>>I don't see the harm in this if done with care (though I'm almost
>>positive I'll be lambasted for making such an ignorant remark).
>
>>What do I know...  I don't have the decades of experience with pianos
>>that some here do - only a decade of experience with a little shop in
>>Colorado known for doing semi-decent work on semi-decent pianos.
>
>>Sorry if this has sounded a bit cynical - it's just a bit much sometimes
>>with all the sarcasm oozing out of the screen into my lap.  If the
>>topics of discussion here are too exasperating, why add to them?
>
>>signed - a proponent of open discussion
>