more front duplex fun

[justpianos at our.net.au]

Ric,
You've also found another reason why "digital" pianos can never compete
with "the real thing".
Bruce browning - The Piano Tuner.



> Hi folks
>
>
> I have a very easy little experiment I would like as many of you as
> possible to play with me.  Ran into it today after having fooled around a
> bit with various things this past month.
>
> Take a good thick bridge pin and insert it in the middle of the front
> duplex between two strings of a unison in the highest octave.  Play the
> note muting the one string that doesnt have the pin touching its front
> duplex segement  so that only the two that have it sound.  Listen closely
> to the pitch(s) that are sounded.  Now move the pin slightly  into various
> positions close to half way between the capo and counterbearing.
>
> Its really quite weird... the secondary pitch that comes very  clearly
> through is extremly tuneable by the position of the pin, and it is lower
> then the fundemental of the speaking length... by quite a bit really.  Put
> in the exact middle of  A7 on a Steinway C I was checking this out with
> today, a clear 5th below the fundemental of A6 was sounding.  I have no
> explanation as to how this sound comes about... but it was unmistakable.
>
> The neat thing you could do tho was to move the pin very close to the
> counter bearing point.   Especially on the highest notes...from around f7
> upwards.... sustain and clarity were markedly improved if you got the pin
> just right.  Insertion of a second bridge pin to couple the third string
> into the picture seemed to require a slight offsett in position to find
> the <<best>> overall effect for the entire unison.
>
> Strikes me that this has some obvious implications for potential
> alternative approaches to the front duplex length.  It also re-enforces
> another thougth I've been having for quite some time now.  That the length
> of the front duplex, and probably also the angle of the offset up to the
> counterbearing have little or nothing at all to do with energy loss across
> the capo.  These rather more likely only deal with what happens to that
> energy.  Either one damps it.... or attempts to utilize it in some
> fashion. But either way the amount of energy that leaks across the capo is
> probably  not affected much by  various types of front terminations.
>
> Cheers
> RicB
>
>
>