<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16544" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>  Hi all</DIV> <DIV>  Michael Spreeman reminded me of the difference of opinions regarding this subject recently & I remarked to him that I was by in Large a nay sayer. Many on this list in the course of our discussions about belly work have also been less than enthusiastic about the actual affect if any of the rear Steinway invented by the same. IE. the part that sits behind the bridge. I for sure want to go on record to say that the duplex scale is highly over rated & isn't a magic bullet that most copy cat manufacturers would have the public beleive.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>  &..... I  remain the primarily of the same opinion but I submit an interesting experience that happened to me the other day.</DIV> <DIV>  I was in Los Angles following up on a 1905 Victorian Steinway  A-2. I did a rib crowned belly job last Dec. It got everything else new as well as new key set & beautiful Ronsen Bacon felt hammers. On this A I removed the bass cantalever (first time)  which has been a dynamic unqualified improvement. It now has a huge bottom end the likes of which I've not encountered in an A-2.</DIV> <DIV>The client who tunes as well as plays has massive ears & is a <STRONG>very</STRONG> good player of Jazz to classics. After 10 months of play in I recently received a request that I bring up the brightness level of the piano just ever so slightly. I added 3 to 6 drops of very thin plastic on the string cuts in octaves 3 & 4 & also octave 5 & the very top 8 notes with  thicker plastic.</DIV> <DIV>  After 10 minutes use  with a hair dryer to cure the plastic  the level of harmonic blending came up to a place where the tone just launched into this new level of ethereal sounding amazing stuff that was sucking  the music out of my finger tips. Anybody ever experience this?  Uh huh.</DIV> <DIV>  AS I sat & played it a bit myself I was sensing a sound, as if Keith Jarrett himself was humming along with me as he does on his recordings.  It was really cool.  It sounded like singers singing softly &  slightly under the texture of the body of the piano tone. It was such a wonderful sound. As I listened more closely I started plucking the rear duplex in the first capo area & I could hear these sounds in the music as he played. It was then I realized the sound I was hearing was possibly coming from this duplex.</DIV> <DIV>  I am fully aware that  a great tone comes from many things in a belly that is functioning at maximum capacity & perhaps the duplex isn't all that affective unless all those things  are. It was great fun  & I was stunned and enthralled by the entire experience.</DIV> <DIV>  Food for thought?</DIV> <DIV>  Dale</DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's new at <A title="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" href="http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170" target="_blank">AOL.com</A> and <A title="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" href="http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169" target="_blank">Make AOL Your Homepage</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>