[CAUT] Front Duplex

[James Ellis]

I'd like to respond to some comments without going back and trying to sort
out who said what.

I did not say the profile of the termination makes no difference.  It does
too make a difference.  Make it too sharp and the angle too high, and the
strings will dig ruts in it.  Make it too broad and the angle too shallow,
and the strings will sizzle.  What I said was:  The real root of the
problem is the front duplex itself.

Someone said there is no termination that will stop the bleed through.  But
there is.  At least, there are ways to make terminations that will stop
most of it without any significant increase in string drag.  It's just very
hard to get piano makers to move away from the ways they have done things
for the past 137 years.

There was some discussion whether energy transferred to the duplex gets
lost as heat, or gets transferred back into the speaking length.  I think
the correct answer is "some of both".  But my preference is to keep the
energy in the speaking length where it belongs, except for what goes
through the bridge to the soundboard to make sound.  Why mess around with a
duplex to try to store energy, and then perhaps get some of it back a few
milliseconds later?

My purpose in saying what I did was twofold:   1. To remind you that there
are some SD-10s out there that have un-muted string sections between tuning
pins and string rests in the top two treble sections because the felt is
not thick enough.  They sometimes sing, but the remedy is easy and simple.
2. To assure you that capo bar profile is not the sole source of string
sizzle in the front duplex.  There is a basic fallacy in the whole idea.

Sincerely, Jim Ellis