<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>How would sideways tension (I think more like intermittent point-source longitudinal compression) on the bridge reduce the ability for the soundboard to vibrate more freely? Whatever tension or compression or whatever forces are within the bridge - not the soundboard. How would what is/isn't going on in the bridge affect soundboard performance?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"> </DIV>Yes, the string bearing is reversed, but the concept behind is that you don't have tension sideways on the bridge, which helps the soundboard vibrate more freely.<BR><BR>Yoshi<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>