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<DIV>In a message dated 10/17/2003 3:48:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time, michael=
@gambles.fsnet.co.uk writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue =
2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>Hello John Hartman<BR>You've got a really good=
thread going here - I hope you don't mind me<BR>joining in a bit? My model =
"A" has, what the London Steinway people call a<BR>"Tone Bell". Is this what=
you are calling the "Pulsator"? It can be seen to<BR>be there by simply loo=
king at the frame on the treble side. There you will<BR>see, or will not see=
the square head of what apperas to be a large "carriage<BR>bolt". Looking u=
nderneath the piano there is this inverted conical casting.<BR>I note in my =
rounds that it is only the Steinways with the "Sostenuto" pedal<BR>which has=
this feature - be it an 85 note or an 88 note keyboard.<BR>As to creating a=
new piano from scratch I leave that sort of think to that<BR>Italian chap F=
azioli (I think that's his name) Anyone had experience of<BR>these "wunder-p=
ianos"?<BR>Regards<BR>Michael G (UK)</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000040 size=3><STRONG> &=
nbsp; Michael</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000040 size=3><STRONG> &=
nbsp; The tone bell & pulsator I asked John about are =
<U>not</U> the same thing. The pulsator is merely a thin strip of maple abou=
t 25 mm wide by 7 mm thick by 6 cm long. Depending on the year this feature =
intersects 3 to 5 ribs. Looking under the piano at the board of a S&=
;S B & C you'll see it in the bass corner. It runs 90 Degrees to th=
e ribs and is glued/dowelled to the ribs. The ribs are also thinned out &=
; seem to terminate somewhat at this point even thought he thinned out =
flatter portions extend to & are glued into notches in the rasten/inner =
rim. As John said it appears to be an idea that functions like a cutoff=
bar but I'm thinking it may have an effect hard to quantify. Surely they ha=
d a reason.</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000040 size=3> =
The bell is just a plate stiffening device. A short beam from the belly rail=
to the case in the same area would allow for another nose bolt that could t=
ake the place of the bell. I cant say the bell has any effect in and of itse=
lf to influence tone but does stiffen the plate web where it attaches thereb=
y influencing tone. There must be a modest down force of the bell bolt =
to do so which by the way will increase the downbearing a small amount (tone=
effect) These bolts also seem to come loose from time to time and caus=
e a weird rattle.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000040 size=3> D=
oes that help?--Dale</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>