>> From: Granholm Bros Piano <gbros@term.wanweb.net> >> John Granholm wrote: >> >> With a piano of this quality, is the duplex scale really that >> big a deal anyway? Should I just put the little brass doohickeys >> (aliquots?) back in their original positions and forget it, or what? > pianoman wrote: > > Dear John, > > I really don't think K&B's would be enhanced by doing a lot of tuning to > these duplex portions. I really believe on many of these quality pianos a > duplex scale was used so they could have a added feature to help sell the > poor unfortunates... > > James Grebe from St. Louis > RPT > pianoman@inlink.com John Granholm & James Grebe, et al One could make the argument that ALL "duplex scales," especially those found in the back scale, were (are) used so the manufacturers could (can) have an added feature to help sell the poor unfortunates. This practice is as old as the piano itself and has been used by pretty much all manufacturers at one time or another. It is not important that a "feature" actually add anything to the appearance, performance, tone or life of a piano as long as it looks good on paper, it sounds good in the sales presentation and it can be used to help sell a piano to the poor unfortunates. Indeed, if you reflect on this for a bit you can probably think of at least one or two "features" that actually detracts from the performance of a piano and yet are still touted as something to be greatly desired. The “tuned” back duplex scale is just one example. Especially in the case of the rear "duplex" the distance between the rear bridge pin and the bearing bar (in whatever form it appears) is more important than whether it is tuned or not. (See the Journal, June, 1995 (V-bars, Pressure Bars & Duplex Bars" and August, 1995 "Front Duplex Stringing Scales".) This distance should be as long as is practical. The idea is to give the bridge as much freedom of motion as possible. As long as you have the option, why not just set the duplex bars as close to the hitch pins as possible while keeping them square to the back row of bridge pins. ddf
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