treble fish on steroids

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Well, I think the etymology of Capo d'Astro is a little obscure -- more of a
glorified marketing term than anything really descriptive of function -- but I
take responsibility for the word "fish" being used to describe that particular
type of treble soundboard shaping device. 

When I started using them -- and teaching others how to use them -- nobody was
calling them anything. They had not been used -- and rarely seen -- for the best
part of a century. The word "fish" became popular around the shop based on their
shape, obviously not their function. Eventually one of our workers put a mouth,
eyes, gills and even a fin or two on one and hung it on the wall. It stuck. (The
name, not the fish.) So be it.

Del 


| -----Original Message-----
| From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 
| [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of pianoguru at cox.net
| Sent: April 15, 2008 8:08 AM
| To: Pianotech List
| Cc: David Boyce
| Subject: Re: treble fish on steroids
| 
| ---- David Boyce <David at piano.plus.com> wrote: 
| > Hmmm, so, what do you call 1) a capo-d'astro (or capo 
| d'asto) bar, 2) 
| > an agraffe, 3) a wippen, etc etc?
| 
| Exactly!  If you trace any of these terms to their original 
| language, they are descriptive of their function, not some 
| silly relationship to what it looks like.
| 
| Frank Emerson
|