> Yes, I must say that I've never understood why for a long period makers > with very few exceptions used, and still do, ribs of more or less square > cross-section rather than taller and narrower bars providing the same or > better stiffness for less mass. There was a time, however, in the very > early days of the modern piano, when some makers did so, especially on > uprights. They certainly did. There were a number of indications along the way that some of the manufacturers had engineers with a fair understanding of the principals involved, and the interactions among the various parts. A number of good ideas and a whole lot of valid information has been lost by not disseminating, or even recording the reasoning behind the general approach and details of things tried. A number of very promising design aspects, and a greater understanding of cause and effect relationships were sadly abandoned. > I'm sure they are, and I have at no point suggested it's anything like smoke >and mirrors, but my thoughts tend always towards design from scratch although >I'm a rebuilder and although one of my main current projects involves the >lowering of the level of the (new) soundboard to accomodate a 40mm tall bridge. Are you planning to use the same ribbing as the original? > And though Wolfenden may speak of a 38 mm bridge I think he > did not actually use such a tall bridge and very few makers did, with > exceptionally good results. I expect that's right. Ron N
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