pianotech-digest V1997 #294 reply

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Les,

That lovely scarlet, or gold, cord inside the case was the patented "Lick
and a Promise" sloppy soundboard perimeter joint hider and general
dresser-upper. It was a biggie idea from French Lick (and a promise)
Indiana. It was also, possibly, the prettiest c(h)ord the piano had in it.
If it had occurred to them, they would have put in two cords for an enhanced
"duplex" effect. %-) 

Ron  

At 02:09 PM 11/19/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>On Wed, 19 Nov 1997, pianoman wrote:
>
>> I think a lot of people put in the braid because it looks cosmetically
>> good.  That portion of the string looks kind of bare without something to
>> dress it up.  I have seen many pianos with the braid intertwined in the
>> duplex portion which defeats the purpose but does quieten some noisy
>> sections down to a manageable level.
>
>Of course, in some old, small, "cheapie" grands, leaving out the stringing
>braid may have saved the manufacturer several cents at the wholesale level
>and if they were basically turning out  piano-shaped plant-stands every
>little bit of profit counted. OTOH, if you were really building a junker,
>maybe the hope was that by using a wide, brilliant-scarlet stringing braid
>throughout PLUS lining the inside perimeter of the case with a matching
>scarlet cord, you might thereby be able distract the owner's attention
>from true, dismal quality of the "instrument". Manufacturers at the bottom
>of the barrel faced having to make constant important decisions, just like
>the guys at the top.
>
>Les Smith
>lessmith@buffnet.net 
>


 Ron Nossaman