Hi Mike I've done that test so many times now its redougulous :)... which is why I have become more then a little skeptical about loose pins being a cause of false beats. Find another one of those pins that responds as you mention... then push a little harder. The false beat will re-occur. How does that fit into the loose pin thing ?... If sideways pressure is supposed to compensate for the looseness of the pin.. then pushing even harder then it takes to quite the false beat should not have that affect. A lot of the confusion seems to circle around what the word "cause" actually means. Loose pins may be a "factor" in the overall cause of false beat occurance. But they simply can not be a cause in themselves because it quite obviously takes more then just a loose pin for a false beat to occur. Otherwise false beats would occur without exception when a loose pin was present... and they very clearly do not. The cause of false beating probably is more along the lines of an overall condition of to much springyness in the entire termination. But it can demonstrably also be internal to the string itself... and the same screw driver trick will work. The whole point is that if the termination oscillates in phase with one plane of vibration for a given frequency and does not for another plane of that same frequency, then a false beat will occur dependent on the strength and degree of that in phase oscillation. This kind of thing can occur when the energy of the string is greater then the terminations ability to resist moving with it... in one or more planes at one or more frequencies. I think its important to get closer to the root of the problem then simply buying into the loose pin thingy.... because we might actually solve the whole darn problem if we figure out whats really happening. Cheers RicB Ric and Paul, I, too, was a sceptic, having done the "sideways screwdriver pressure" test on the bridge pins of many false beating strings with no predictable effect on the beats. But then I had one do exactly as the "myth" predicted: The beats stopped entirely with very light sidways pressure (towards the string). A little CA at the base of the pins and all the beating cleared up. Here's what I conclude: Loose bridge pins can be the cause of SOME false beating, but is not the cause of ALL false beating. For those who have never experienced it, it will remain a myth. For me, it is now one of SEVERAL POSSIBLE CAUSES to be included in the troubleshooter's bag of tricks. Mike
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