<div><div>I was being semi facetious but I know that pushing the tension down doesn't work because I've tried it. The tone just sounds weak and thin.  Poor bass response is a soundboard issue, in my view and that's where you should look to resolve it. That's not to say there aren't bad scales but I don't think that compromising the scale to try and fix a soundboard limitation is the right approach. If the gnarliness of the bass scale is a concern because it may be overdriving the board then it can also be addressed with a lighter and softer hammer. </div><div><br/></div><div>I haven't tried the wire you refer to to try and up the bp% so i can't really comment there.</div><div><br/></div><div>David Love</div><div><a href="http://www.davidlovepianos.com">www.davidlovepianos.com</a></div><div>415.407.8320</div><div><br/></div></div><br><br>Jim Ialeggio <jim@grandpianosolutions.com> wrote:<br><br>David wrote:<br><Lowering the tension in the bass artificially because the piano is <br>smaller will just create something that is unpleasant or out of balance, <br>in my opinion. Avoiding gnarliness can result is a bass that sounds like <br>a rubber band.<br><br>I agree, that while we start with a string scale, the design of the the <br>whole system determines whether the "string scale" works or not. Its not <br>just a string scale or a belly structure or an action setup, or a hammer <br>choice but a whole interdependent system.<br><br>But my question to you regarding the above quote would be, how do you <br>know the alternative to gnarliness is rubberband-iness.  There are no <br>modern pianos that I know of, save my experiments,  which have pushed <br>the lower limits of the low tension bass scale to see what would happen. <br>Mainly I think because the tensile strength of modern wire didn't allow <br>the experiment.  How do you know the alternative is rubberband-iness???<br><br>Jim Ialeggio<br><br>-- <br>Jim Ialeggio <br>jim@grandpianosolutions.com<br>978 425-9026<br>Shirley Center, MA<br><br>