<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Short Treble (sustain?)</title></head><body> <blockquote type="cite" cite>In a message dated 10/31/2003 10:28:57 AM Pacific Standard Time, collin.s@skynet.be writes:<br> <blockquote><font face="Arial">Thanks again, Joe.  This helps a lot.  I'm definetly not going to recap the bridge.  I'm afraid I could have to be going for a new board.  (Strange, I have never seen varnish on bridges here.  In Bechstein pianos, even no graffite.)</font><br> </blockquote> <blockquote><font face="Arial">Stéphane Collin.</font><br> </blockquote> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000040" >       Varnish is to soft to be a bridge coating IMHO even if it went on first & graphite doesn't do much to protect a bridge topeither. I've been apllying several coats of shellac to<u> NEW</u> bridge tops. It seals it nicely and it's hard when dry. It also allows the beauty of the nicely quartered maple to come thru. I sand it smooth with fine paper then polish it with a rag. Now obviously this is done before the pins & strings go on. Right?</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000040">   Dale</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Dale and<font face="Arial"> Stéphane</font>,</div> <div><br></div> <div>I agree with your approach Dale. Similarly, I believe it is critically important that the bridge is envelope-sealed and that the chosen material should have a minimum of hysteresis loss. We currently use a polyurethane sealer which is quite a brittle material<font color="#0000FF"> (we cover the sound board & cutoff panel, bridges and the action-bay in one spray session - with the pin block removed)</font>. For some time we have chosen not to apply a black slip coating on the bridge cap. I believe a black coating can result in an overheated and damaged bridge cap under stage lighting. Furthermore, as Dale mentioned, a clear coat allows the beauty of the quarter cut bridge cap to show through.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Regarding the hysteresis loss of bridge coatings<font color="#0000FF"> (or indeed of the bridge cap itself)</font>, I am not much of a fan of the string being in contact with the bridge cap at all. Therefore, the idea of a bridge agraffe would seem to have<font color="#0000FF"> (in principle)</font> considerable merit. The image below is a grey-scale jpeg of the latest Stuart piano agraffe.</div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div align="center"><img src="cid:a06002002bbc9dbe9602b@[61.8.27.99].1.0"></div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div>The use of a high hysteresis material<font color="#0000FF"> (such as silicon rubber)</font> on the body of the agr<font color="#0000FF">affe</font> would seem to negate a major benefit of using the device. Of course, if there is such a small clearance between the agraffe body and the strings that it causes string noise, one would have little choice but to use a lossy material as a 'cure'<font color="#0000FF"> (apart from redesigning the agraffe which would be a better solution)</font>. Silicon on noisy agraffes 'kills' the tone nearly as effectively as damping out the front duplex to 'cure' string noise.</div> <div><br></div> <div>By the way Joe G., when the topic "Clamps" was active last week, you asked what "RHS" referred to. It is a standard Australian term in the steel industry for Rectangular Hollow Section. RHS is supplied in a variety of dimensions and wall thicknesses, and is manufactured by rolling a flat section into the required shape and seam welding it. As supplied, its dimensional accuracy is adequate for most construction applications. In terms of strength per unit cost, RHS is considerable cheaper than I beam or H section.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Ron O.</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><i>   </i></font><font color="#0000FF"><i>Grand Piano Manufacturers</i></font><font color="#000000"><br> _____________________________</font></div> <div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#000000">Web http://overspianos.com.au</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">mailto:info@overspianos.com.au<br> _____________________________</font></div> </body> </html>