[pianotech] Totally glueless

[Ron Nossaman]

On 2/1/2013 6:30 AM, Ed Foote wrote:
>
>           Apparently adequate?  That is an assumption. I haven't said
> what this
> thing sounded like. It may have been difficult to draw attention to
> poor bass bridge coupling with wild strings, worn out action, and a small
> room. Hardly evidence that a loose bridge doesn't make a difference in
> the sound.

Correct, that was an assumption. I asked, but you hadn't said. I don't 
know how wild strings or a worn out action could have disguised a non 
functional bass bridge, but it was evidently not bad enough to draw 
attention specifically to itself like the many "thub thub" dead basses 
we've all heard.


>      Acoustic coupling relates to how efficiently energy passes through
> things which are joined.  Glue one of your bridges on with PVC-E glue.
> It will be mechanically coupled, but acoustically it will not be the
> same as a less compliant  glue. Why is this so hard to accept?

Because I don't think it's accurate, that's why. Techs envision a bridge 
sitting there with vibrational energy traveling from the strings down 
past the glue joints (or blocked by them), ricocheting around the 
soundboard and somehow producing sound. In fact, the bridges move, and 
the strings move them. That still requires a good solid mechanical 
connection, but the action is much bigger and less exotic than little 
undetectable internal vibrations. That's the point, and it's real 
simple.


>   >> Regardless, if you can't trust your own ears, how can you in good
> conscience sell your services tuning and voicing?Ron N
>
>             I trust my ears because I know exactly where they deviate
>   from the ideal. If your ears are the same as they were 40 years ago you
> are the exception to the rule.

That is an assumption. I said no such thing. I have no doubt you can 
hear quite well enough to tune, voice, and detect that a bass bridge is 
loose. The point of that being that it doesn't take 30 year old ears to 
tell if the bridge is loose enough to kill the bass enough to be 
detectable. The fundamental point is still that the strings move the 
bridge, rather than some tiny internal vibrations in the bridge somehow 
making sound from the soundboard. That's easily measurable, even 
visible, so why is that so difficult to accept over something that you 
can't detect?

Ron N