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

[Ric Brekne]

I used to use a similar method but pushed away from the pin and angled 
slightly down.  My thinking was to relieve all pressure on the pin and 
at the same time assure a slight down pressure. That way pin friction 
was out of the way.  Seemed to work pretty well too.

Now I play it even safer.  The thing is Ron N is very correct in 
expressing concern about causing a recessed notch edge with a negative 
bearing surface for the string. But this is easy to avoid really.  A 8 
mm soft wood dowel placed square on the surface of the string behind the 
pin on the bridge itself tapped lightly simply can not create that 
condition.

Either the bridge surface is parallel to the undeflected string or the 
highest point of deflection is at either notch (assuming a flat bridge 
surface) Ofte as not the highest spot is at the front bridge pin. If you 
tap the string down there as mentioned above the worst that can happen 
is that you simply lower the notch vertically. The high spot may move 
back a bit... but as long as the angle from the high spot of the bridge 
down to the pin/notch is less steep then the angle the string would take 
unhindered from the high spot out to the front termination... then there 
is no way for the string to not have solid contact with the bridge at 
the pin.  That is unless the high spot of the bridge is lower then the 
undeflected string is.

I'm not suggesting one gets all liberal and beat the string down solid 
this way...  I'm just illustrating that careful seating is possible in a 
way that will not damage the bridge in any sense of the word.  A very 
slight tap is all you need.  If you tilt your dowel just a tad backwards 
to be extra safe...  Damage just aint going to happen.

Cheers
RicB

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I think it's more likely that the "seating" had to do with how the string
bent around the pin.  Next time try "seating" the string by gently pulling
or pushing the string toward the pin rather than down toward the bridge.  My
guess is that you will get the same result as the string bends around the
pin and makes contact more with the side of the pin rather than toward the
back of the pin.  That will also move the bridge contact out toward the edge
of the notch.  

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com