Hey Folks, After all the arguments and discussions re the front duplex scale, here is something "youall" missed. The front duplex scale in the high treble does, or I believe should, alter the inharmonicity a little bit by reducing the bending moment of the wire at the front termination - i.e., a rocking motion rather than a sharp bending motion. The shorter the speaking length of the string, the more effect I would expect this to have. But I'm not going to get up on my soap box and crow about it until I have had a chance to do some controlled experiments to either prove or disprove it, and I don't know when that will be. It might even have another advantage in those cases where the piano gets regular beatings and strings break at the front termination. But on the other hand, the worst case of this that I have ever seen was on a Steinway, so I retract that supposition. That piano was only a few years old, but it had literally had the stuffings beaten out of it - flat knuckles - string grooves in the hammers half way to the wood - broken strings all over the place - front key bushings all chewed up, a bent pedal, etc. As for the rear duplex, I don't see how it could make any difference regarding inharmonicity. The rear duplex is just as misunderstood, if not more so, than the front one is. Sincerely, Jim Ellis
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