<!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 6.00.2900.3020" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; khtml-nbsp-mode: space; khtml-line-break: after-white-space" bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>"As to why the manufacturers did it their way, I can only assume that it was to keep the harmonics in line as far down the scale as was possible."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Boy, do you really think that is the reason? Isn't there some tiny chance that it's CHEAPER - as in cutting corners?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr 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><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>When the strings in the low tenor are not long enough for a short piano, the designer lowers the tension so that the string can achieve the required frequency.  Unfortunately when this happens, the string makes more of a boing...boing...  type sound when it is at such low tension. This would explain the voicing difficulties. Also when a string is at such low tension it induces tuning instability because a very slight expansion or contraction of the soundboard produces a much greater effect on a low tension string than a high tension string. Take for example the case of the Yamaha GH1; you will always find that the low tenor is always the first part of the scale to go out of tune and is usually way out more than any other part of the scale. The transition bridge is a remedy for this tuning instability; by decreasing the length of the tenor strings so that they can be converted to wound strings which will be heavier and therefore produce the required  low frequency at a much higher tension. </FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>As to why the manufacturers did it their way, I can only assume that it was to keep the harmonics in line as far down the scale as was possible. No matter how well a scale is designed ther</STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold" size=3>e will always be a noticeable change in the harmonic content of the sound as soon as you reach the bass crossover point i.e. the change from plain strings to wound strings.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>AF</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>