<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Bookman Old Style">Without ways of building on each = others trials and errors they followed more of a purposeful trek in a given = direction until they exhausted it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV>James Grebe , <BR> Piano Tuner-Technician, Wood Artisan     <BR>new website <A href="http://www.JamesGrebe.com">WWW.JamesGrebe.com</A><BR></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fordpiano@earthlink.net = href="mailto:fordpiano@earthlink.net">Phillip Ford</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 29, 2003 = 3:11 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Mother in Law of = All Cutoff Bars</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>><BR>>Thanks for the = pictures.<BR>><BR>>What were these builders trying to do? Were they each single = handedly<BR>>trying to use up all of the iron in the whole of the Mesabi Range?<BR><BR>Maybe = they owned stock in a mining company.<BR><BR>><BR>>Have you any idea = what that plate might weigh?<BR><BR>No.  Fortunately I wasn't around = when they took it out (although I <BR>would have liked to see it after the fact).<BR><BR>>  I've been giving some<BR>>thought of late = to the amount of iron in even the typical piano plate<BR>>(leave off = something like this). Much of it is a total waste having no<BR>>structural or = acoustical function whatsoever....<BR>><BR>>Del<BR><BR>One of = the interesting things about this plate is that in spite of <BR>all the = metal they put at the tuning pin end, it's fairly light at <BR>the hitch pin = end.  The struts are heavy, but the plate web in <BR>between looks like it = might be fairly flexible.  For the strings at <BR>the midspan between the = struts, I would think that there might be a <BR>fair bit of deflection at the = hitch pin end as they are pulled up to <BR>pitch.<BR>I haven't really = thought about it before, but I wonder if this could <BR>be a way to attempt to build = in some tuning stability.  The humidity <BR>increases, the soundboard = moves up, the string tension increases, but <BR>because the plate or string = connection to the plate is fairly <BR>flexible, the tension won't increase as = much as for a rigid plate or <BR>connection.  I don't know how flexible = things would have to be to <BR>make this work (if it would) or how that would = affect the tone. <BR>Also, if you were counting on plate flexibility for this = effect, you <BR>wouldn't get any at the plate struts.<BR>Too bad we don't know = more about what these guys were thinking.<BR><BR>Phil = Ford<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech = list info: <A = href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives">http://www.ptg.org= /mailman/listinfo/pianotech</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>