Ed and all, Again, the vintage Bechstein model A comes to mind : this piano has hockey stick, an obvious jump in string length curve at the trebble strut, and some have that oblique bridge cap in the middle of the scale, so the three strings of an unisson have different length. Sometimes, I happen to think that in those days there were designers who thought : "perfectly even is perfectly boring". At least, some did everything to try and make the piano sing and roar. I don't know Karl Schulze, but I happen to be very interested in Carl Bechstein the Elder, who knew very well the french pianos designs before making his own, and he perfectly knew about equal tension scales, pure logarithmic trebble bridges, capo d'astro high trebble sections, and even 25 wound bass strings arrangements. Yet he chose for the hockey stick bridge and the trebble agraffees. And, as stated previously in this interesting thread, his pianos are reported as glorious instruments, at least by the pianists who play those. I think we tend to judge older designs with our modern ears. It is exactly like reproaching Chopin not to have a sense for polyphony. Of course, Chopin didn't write polyphony, because he was not after that, and same, older designers were not after our contemporary asceptic vision of piano acoustics (all curves flat, please). Best regards. Stéphane Collin. ----- Original Message ----- From: <ed440 at mindspring.com> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 8:43 PM Subject: RE: A tenor bridge conversion > Frank and Del- > > For purposes of this discussion, most of us on this list would agree that > a tenor bridge or extended bass bridge would give a better transition. > What we wonder is: why do manufacturers continue to produce pianos with > "hockey stick" bridges? > > Since you both have insider's experience in the commercial factory design > process, perhaps you can tell us why manufacturers repeatedly make what > seems, from our small shop viewpoint, to be a poor decision. > > Thanks! > > Ed Sutton > > -----Original Message----- >>From: Delwin D Fandrich <fandrich at pianobuilders.com> >>Sent: Jan 24, 2007 1:33 PM >>To: pianoguru at earthlink.net, 'Pianotech List' <pianotech at ptg.org> >>Subject: RE: A tenor bridge conversion >> >> >> >> >> _____ >> >>From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On >>Behalf Of >>Frank Emerson >>Sent: January 23, 2007 9:57 PM >>To: Pianotech List >>Subject: Re: A tenor bridge conversion >> >> >> >>I have designed a number of pianos for a number of manufacturers, and the >>number >>of wound strings has never been an issue. If you make your own bass >>strings, it >>doesn't add that much to the cost of the piano. >> >>It did during the period from roughly 1880 through at least the 1920s when >>most >>of these pianos were designed. >> >> >> >>Well .......... I, too, had a hand in this particular Baldwn model as >>well. The >>number of notes on the bass bridge had nothing to do with its eventual >>market >>success. >> >>The choice of 32 bass unisons was made so that the tenor bridge could >>avoid the >>foreshortening curve typical with most "modern" pianos, especially small >>pianos. >> >>Historically the foreshortened tenor bridge was a result of too few >>unisons >>wrapped string unisons being used. And, if the transition between the >>wrapped >>unisons is going to be made where good scaling practice dictates, the >>choice >>comes down to either putting them in the separate bass section or putting >>some >>of them on a transition bridge. >> >> >> >>>From the point of view of a rebuilder, a transition bridge makes a lot of >>>sense. >>The number of notes on the bass bridge is predetermined. At the design >>level, >>when you can readily change the number of notes in the bass section, it is >>another story, entirely. Some designers would say that you put as many >>notes as >>you can, with plain wire, on the treble bridge, Whatever is left, you put, >>as >>wound strings, on the bass bridge. >> >>Frank Emerson >> >>In short to medium length pianos there is much to be said for the use of >>transition bridges. With good string and rib scaling they can further >>reduce the >>timbre changes across the transition between the plain steel string and >>wrapped >>string and the transition between the bass section and the tenor section. >> >>Del > >
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