<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16481" 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="Bookman Old Style">Hi Frank,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Yes, to be specific, it is a shallower slope on the side nearest the tuning pins, and a steeper slope on the side toward the speaking length.  I can't really speak to current tooling/design.  Not my area........</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">I remember Paul R-J having something along these lines in a class he did some time back........</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Paul?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">For the record, this Kawai looks pretty symmetrical however.  Still, the mold idea works well enough.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">William R. Monroe</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style"></FONT><BR></DIV> <DIV> <DIV>I am not sure what you mean by italic V.  This seems to imply a different profile on either side of the V-bar.  Since the advent of CNC machining, it has been common practice to use such tooling to accurately create the V-bar shape and elevation.  The most critical concern was to accurately control the string elevation at the strike point.  Commonly, the same tool is used to machine both sides of the v-bar, resulting in symmetrical shape, which I would describe as V-shaped, with a slightly rounded bottom "point."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>Frank Emerson</DIV> <DIV> </DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>