bearing, loose bridge pins leading to Wapin considerations

[Ron Nossaman]

>Regarding Wapin ,  I would think its success presupposes the presence of 
>healthy downbearing configuration, as Ron N  indicated again that this 
>whole discussion is based upon this, even though, as I have indicated, the 
>normal pianos that I see are often far from this. To me this means that a 
>great many of the tonal problems I encounter would likely be resolved by 
>correcting this issue, even without Wapin.

I agree absolutely. And what would installing the Wapin pinning in the
existing cap of a bridge already showing negative front bearing get you?
How about a flat or negatively crowned soundboard that so often produces
that negative bearing?


>Another question I asked which, thus far got no takers...about preloading 
>the board before stringing.  If the cap is as impressionable as it seems, 
>couldn't the initial tensioning of the strings cause the deep front 
>indentations?
>
>David Skolnik

It probably starts the indentation. The seating and bending of strings
around bridge pins after stringing would almost certainly do more damage
than the initial tensioning. I've had strings on new bridge caps break
while pulling them up to pitch. Looking at the cap before I put the string
back on, if it was dented, it wasn't obvious enough to make me look closer.
It was shinier where the graphite was burnished by the string.
Ron N