<html> <body> Serge, At 07:17 PM 1/22/2005, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hi Ron I just lift my first SD-10 (20 years old) plate last week, very heavy piece of material and impressive engineering set-up.</blockquote> Indeed. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">The duplex gismos make me perplex...</blockquote> There is a good deal of misunderstanding about how the accujust system works.  Most of the ones that I have seen that do not "work" (musically or acoustically) have been modified by folks who do not understand the system.  Generally, entire too much bearing has been cranked in by lowering the strings on the hitch pins.  Getting the appropriate documentation from Baldwin, as you did, is the correct thing to do. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Just got the information from Bladwin, that piano should have a very small amount of down bearing example: for a bass string 1 pound of down pressure on the bridge (maybe I misinterpret the info here) seen to be too small.  </blockquote> Actually, that is part of the design; and it works very well with that little pressure..  You have to be very careful to reset both the plate and the bearing according to the information which you got from Baldwin; especially the stringing order and related loading of the soundboard.  They used to be willing to "loan" a bearing gauge to do this; but that has been some time ago, so things may be different now.  It is very much like the Lowell gauge, but graduated differently.  Take your time and all will be well. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Could you please be more specific about the improvement you made on this particular piano? </blockquote> Depending on with whom you are speaking, the SD and SF instruments (both of which use the same floating plate and accujust hitchpin design) were the result of either advanced acoustic research or some pretty miserable belly work that meant that Baldwin was having to replace a number of soundboards.  As with all "new" things (not that this is, anymore, to be sure), this design takes working with and getting used to. Note that Ron refers to the SD-10 as "another heavy plated and heavily rimmed piano which has quite outstanding tonal characteristics once the duplex noise and other stringing and strike ratio issues are sorted."  This is a clue, I think, to be on the look out for a very even, powerful scale which responds well to careful work.  I think that what Ron is talking about here is pretty standard, old-fashioned piano work.  There is no one-size-fits-all solution; each instrument will present different issues, and require different approaches.  Some will require a shorter hanging distance, some longer; others will respond better to very slight changes in bearing than to changing the strike point. Best. Horace <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Serge Harel   Look at the SD-10! Another heavy plated and heavily rimmed piano which has quite outstanding tonal characteristics once the duplex noise and other stringing and strike ratio issues are sorted. Ron O. -- OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY     Grand Piano Manufacturers _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: <a href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives" eudora="autourl">https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives</a> </blockquote></body> </html>