<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <blockquote TYPE=CITE> <pre><tt>Then again, I suppose the keybed could be made to drop down for action access.</tt></pre> </blockquote> <tt></tt> <tt>Viennese F-p's have a removable frame under the keyframe for this purpose, while still their design is so that the hammers over-center on striking.</tt> <blockquote TYPE=CITE><tt>>I have often wondered why in grands the pins are highter than the</tt> <tt>>strings or why they could not be the same level as in uprights.</tt><tt></tt> <tt>* They could be if you were willing to tune upside down in the action</tt> <tt>cavity[...] Tuning pins could be made with an Allen socket in the bottom (top?) for an alternative Felliniesque sort of tuning experience[...]</tt></blockquote> <tt></tt> <tt>At least one of Cristofori's designs and two of Robert Wornum's grands are tuned from above and strung below the pierced-through pinblocks; Henri Herz' 'upside-down-striking' grand (like the Wornums, it is strung _below_ the soundboard) tuned from below but with the pinblock face at a severe angle from the string plane. The point of these pre-1850 designs was to strike toward the nut like uprights, since with lower tension it is possible with a heavy blow temporarily to spoil termination by knocking strings off the nut; in the latter three there is no gap for hammers between the pinblock and the rest of the structure - the last gasps of all-wood framing. The agraffe was patented in the 1820's, though at first it really was a staple.</tt><tt></tt> <tt>Given that bearing between the tuning pin and speaking length of the string is desirable, the string doesn't much care then how it is oriented between each successive pair, so long as the cumulative amount of bearing is reasonable.</tt><tt></tt> <tt>Clark</tt></html>