<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Please get your quotes correct Ron. Ron Overs wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>Ric B wrote: >.... seems to me tho...that if you >could avoid the side bearing whilst maintaining the solid contact on the >bridge..... Wayne Stuart carries on about the negative effects of side bearing effecting the tone. But I don't believe it.</blockquote> Sarah Fox wrote this : <blockquote TYPE=CITE>>I've always wondered about that.  I would presume the slant of the bridge >pins and the severe angle of the string between pins is intended to keep the >string pressed firmly to the top surface of the bridge, but wouldn't the >downbearing already achieve that? Not sufficiently, some offset angle, whether it be horizontal or vertical, is necessary to prevent falseness. I know this first hand because I have built a bridge with insufficient side draft angle, through a spreadsheet formula error. The tone was a disaster until the bridge was recapped. Of course an alternative engineering solution could be employed, but it wouldn't be as cheap.  </blockquote> And this as well.. <blockquote TYPE=CITE>  >What would happen if a string were passed straight over the bridge without >pins, like on a violin?  What would happen?  How would it sound? Very ordinary. While this area of string termination warrants further study, some offset or an alternative solid termination is necessary for clean tone. By the way list folks, does anybody have an email address for John-Paul Williams, who teaches piano technology at the London City and Guilds piano technology course. I would like to contact him. Ron O. -- ___</blockquote> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A>  </html>