tapping strings

[Greg Newell]

David,
    Ron's own post clears up his position on this matter. I misstated due to an
ever increasing faulty memory. I'm glad that Ron decided to respond and clear
the muddy waters.

Greg

P.S. Just so I'm clear Ron, your take is that the expansion of the bridge
causes the string to ride up the pin and then stays there when the bridge
shrinks back down? My question is why doesn't the pin ride up and down with the
bridge? Is it the fact that it is anchored deeper in the wood and the expansion
happens to a larger degree on the woods' surface?

David Skolnik wrote:

> At 11:18 PM 04/03/2002 -0600, Wim wrote:
> > > We are supposed to tap the strings to seat them on the bridge. But how
> > often
> > > should this be done?
>
> At 11:18 PM 04/03/2002 -0600, Ron wrote:
> >Beyond the initial seating and string leveling after stringing - virtually
> >never, in my opinion. It doesn't fix a thing.
>
> Ron-
> When you say "it doesn't fix a thing", I assume you mean that it doesn't
> fix the cause of the problem, if, in fact, there is a problem.  I suspect
> you might agree that there are occasions where extraneous noise can, at
> least temporarily, be eliminated by carefully seating strings.  Do you
> agree with Greg's assessment of the cause of the problem?
>
> >If I understood correctly the main cause of the string creeping up off the
> >bridge top is the bridge pin climbing up out of it's hole. (Greg Newell)
>
> This scenario might be credible with bridge pins that are of marginal
> tightness, but I find it hard to subscribe to the notion that properly fit
> bridge pin will do so.  On the other hand, Greg might be saying that the
> cap swells in humid season, pushing the string up on the pin, only to leave
> it suspended there when the dry season shrinks the cap, presumably exposing
> more pin.  I'd like to see some experiments along these lines. Accurately
> measure the projection of the bridge pin from the bridge surface in
> opposing extreme seasons.
>
> Isn't it more likely that some degree of negative front bearing has
> encouraged this gap to form?
> At 12:01 AM 04/04/2002 -0500, Greg wrote:
> >  If you've been reading on this list, it has been mentioned by many and
> > perhaps mostly by it's strongest proponent in Ron Nossman that tapping
> > strings produces mostly dents in the bridge cap but only a short term
> > effect in seating the string.
>
> Greg, or Ron...can you direct me to where Ron would have expressed these
> sentiments? Was it during the course of the Great Chicken/Egg Debate?
>
> David Skolnik

--
Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net