<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Article about bridge agraffes - function, types</title></head><body> <div>Ric,</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#000000">One of the advantages or spin-offs of the 'floating soundboard' is the rock like stability of tuning.  I look after a couple of Stuarts and the tuning stability is to die for.  Even after the flight from Australia, 3 days at the airport and the road journey to its destination, the concert grand tuning was solid and at pitch.  I literally could not even find a unison to tidy up.</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Similarly, pianos with once-crowned soundboards will exhibit tuning stability to 'die for' once the soundboard becomes totally flat and the downbearing disappears, but they will also acquire a few other tonal characteristics, along with the improved tuning stability, about which we may not be so delighted.</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#000000"> But why do you need downbearing when, with agraffes, you can have a thinner soundboard with ribs which only act to disperse vibrations.  If you think about it, the traditional crowned soundboard construction is the eventual kiss of death to the piano.</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Indeed, the kiss of death will come to all of them in good time. But do we want it to be evident before the piano is crated, or not long after it arrives at the showroom, or five years after the ink dries on the cheque, or are we looking for a longevity of tonal characteristics which might endure for perhaps thirty years or more?</div> <div><br></div> <div>I just don't happen to share Wayne Stuart's philosophy that a good tone can be produced without a stiffened diaphragm assembly being balanced against a downbearing force from the string set. Certainly it is possible to produce the upper frequency harmonics with little or no downbearing, but the fundamental frequencies, which require a much bigger amplitude to produce a satisfactory sound-pressure-level, would seem to be dependent upon some level of downbearing being resisted by the soundboard assembly.</div> <div><br></div> <div>That's just how it appears to me at this time.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Ron O.</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><i>   </i></font><font color="#0000FF"><i>Grand Piano Manufacturers</i></font><font color="#000000"><br> _______________________</font></div> <div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#000000">Web http://overspianos.com.au</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au<br> _______________________</font></div> </body> </html>