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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=spalding48@earthlink.net
href="mailto:spalding48@earthlink.net">Michael Spalding</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> October 13, 2003 11:26 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Longitudinal mode =
info</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2>Many thanks to Bob, Del, =
and George who
provided the patent information. Just printed out a copy from =
the USPTO
website; this should provide excellent entertainment on many a =
sleepless
night!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2>Del, was Conklin's method =
then put into
practice on some or all of Baldwin's pianos?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" =
size=2>Mike</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Well, yes =
and no. Do
another patent office search and you'll find a patent issued for the =
string
winding machine required to reach the level of precision needed to make =
the
concept work as Mr Conklin intended. The machine was way too slow for =
production
-- about one set of strings per machine per day -- and it was (they =
were?) being
shipped off to Mapes about the time I arrived at the company. During my =
time
there Mapes was wrapping Baldwin bass strings on their regular =
machines.
So, yes, the strings were wrapped to the required core and wrap =
specifications
but, no, they had nothing like the precision required to actually tune =
the
longitudinals to any kind of predictable harmonic. After you've figured =
out how
to calculate the required numbers you'll see that to achieve effective
longitudinal mode tuning great liberties are taken with core and wrap =
wire
sizes. There is no consistency to them at all. This, then, sacrifices =
tonal
uniformity, power and inharmonicity. By not wrapping to the required =
precision
the company had ended up with the worst of both systems. Since it was =
unlikely
Mapes was ever going to be able to deliver the kind of consistency and =
precision
required by SynchroTone I had just started redesigning it out of the =
bass scales
one at a time when I left the company. (I'm not intending to be hard on =
Mapes
here. They were under severe budget controls -- those strings had to be =
CHEAP!
CHEAP! CHEAP!) I don't know what happened after that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" =
color=#000080></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"
color=#000080>Del</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>