<html> <body> David, At the National in K.C. use on bass strings was demonstrated at the agraffe for wound strings.  On the plain strings the coupler was installed near middle of the speaking length and then slid up towards the bridge, but kept short of it.  Also these were used on the duplex portion of the capo to control zings and alternatively to tune the duplex. Andrew At 07:30 PM 10/4/2005, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Are we suppose to put the pitchlock clamps near the bridge always?   On the Pleyel I was writing about, I just put them up near the capo bar in the bass section.   Would it be better near the bridge?  Next time I'm there I can make the switch if necessary. David I.   <hr> Original message From: Tvak@aol.com To: pianotech@ptg.org Received: 10/3/2005 6:35:36 AM Subject: Re: pitchlock In a message dated 10/3/05 10:22:29 AM, pcpoulso@pacbell.net writes: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">there was a noticable loss in tone and volume. This was on a treble note. Have you noticed any such effect?</blockquote> The Pitchlock guy, forgive me but I forget his name, came to our chapter meeting last year and gave us a demonstration.  He had put a Pitchlock clamp on one key and asked us to just listen and tell him which one had the clamp on.  He played four different notes, repeatedly, loudly and then softly, and we then voted on which note had the clamp on.  There were about 40 techs there that night, and each note got about ten votes.  If a roomful of technicians can't tell which note had the Pitchlock clamp on it, no consumer is going to be able to hear any difference. I have installed one set on a horrible little console owned by a professional bass player.  There is no question that the piano sounds cleaner than it did with some of the false beating being masked by the Pitchlock clamps.  So I waited about two months and then called him to ask how he felt about his piano now; did he notice any change in tone color, or sustain, or any other negative?  He responded that the piano still seemed to be in tune, and sounded great. >From what I understand, if you position the clamps too closely to the bridge you can get a loss of tone color and sustain, so just be careful in positioning them and in my opinion, you should have no problems related to lack of sustain or volume, or poor tone. Tom Sivak Chicago </blockquote></body> </html>