perhaps the following observation is appropriate to this discussion, perhaps not. Several years ago I was amazed by ultra high speed photography of a hammer striking a bass string. Two astounding revelations: (1) the hammer shank whips just like a good fly casting rod; (2) after hitting the bass string the hammer starts its return journey but the hammer itself is struck several times (three, I recall) by the vibrating string before the hammer's return travel places it out of reach of the bass strings's excursion. At the time I concluded, and I have seen or read nothing since to change this conclusion, that part of the energy imparted to the string was given back to the hammer by these return taps, thus weakening the tone, shortening the tone's duration, and altering the relative strengths of the harmonics. Jim DeRocher, RTT
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