[pianotech] Thoughts on Bearing Angles

[Ron Nossaman]

Jude Reveley/Absolute Piano wrote:

> *Overall Length=100mm; Speaking Length=60mm; Backscale=40mm; Offset from 
> staight plain=10mm*
> ** 
> According to my calculations this would yield a bearing angle of 23.5 
> degrees with 9.5 at the front and 14 at the back. What I don't like is 
> that in this traditional model, the length between the front and rear 
> bridge pins is not accounted for but would certainly increase our rear 
> and thus composite bearing angle. This seems somewhat significant since 
> we base our calculation of the force on the bridge using this angle.

Yes, if I were putting 23.5° net bearing on a piano bridge, 
this would certainly concern me. Since I'm usually putting on 
closer to 1° of bearing, and since the angle discrepancy from 
not taking the bridge top segment into account will likely be 
under 0.1°, and since I'm unlikely to be able to get within 
that range with the final product, or be able to accurately 
measure it if I did, I leave that hair unsplit.

Ron N