I wouldnt take it as a mistake to start wondering about such things :) Go for it ! As to string seating. My take is that most... nearly all of the bridge string seating endeavours out there are counter productive in the end. You dont need kinks around the bridge pins, and you dont need to mash the string down into the bridge to get at some concept of tonewood or to produce a better termination then already is created by the properly placed bridge pin and notch. The only thing you need to assure is that the string is actually down on the face of the bridge along the entire surface of the bridge. That is very easily accomplished by wooden dowel and a very light tap along the string. Anything more aggressive is bound to stress the wood at the bridge pin hole and the pin itself more then it ever will the string itself. The side pressure required to form a kink around the bridge pin will elongate the surface area of the bridge pin hole and introduce more springyness to the termination... with all the potential that has for creating false beats. Mashing the string down into the surface just creates a negative bearing situation at the termination itself... effectively moving the X (or Y if you like) termination further back on the bridge surface... which both creates essentially two string lengths introduces a similar springyness to the part of the termination the bridge pin contributes. Beyond the very careful seating procedure outlined above... the addition of CA to the bridge pin hole seems to be the most effective tool for further cleaning up the sound of a string. Cheers RicB Greetings All -- I made the mistake of thinking the other day, and I started wondering why piano strings are terminated at the bridge on both the X and Y axis but at the capo bar, or agraffe, on only the X, (or perhaps that's Y depending on how you are looking at it), axis. We go to lengths to make sure the strings are seated properly at the bridge so that there is a definite and precise termination in both planes at the bridge and bridge pin. Why then is the lack of termination in both planes not a problem at the agraffe and capo bar end? -- Geoff Sykes, Los Angeles
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