extended bridges

[David M. Porritt]

To say nothing about improving the waste length on the low bass strings.

dave


>
> There was much that was not well understood about piano design
> when Dr White
> wrote those words.  One of those things was the disadvantages of
> the the bass
> bridge cantilever.  For more on this subject look back to the
> article I wrote
> for the Journal on soundboard stresses.
>
> The key phrase here is "if the string length is to be
> preserved...."  There is
> far too much emphasis placed on absolute string length in short
> pianos.  The
> only reasonable way to get a longer string length (i.e., speaking
> length) is
> to make a longer piano.  The problem only arises when the
> designer tries to
> put an excessively long string in a too short piano.  And the
> only reason for
> doing that is to satisfy some poorly conceived marketing story --
> there are no
> musical benefits.
>
> We regularly make new bass bridges for short pianos that actually
> shorten the
> speaking length of the low bass strings -- particularly the
> mono-chords -- and
> at the same time remove the cantilevers.  The tone quality of the
> low bass is
> always improved.  Besides, if absolutely necessary, it is always
> possible to
> relieve the bass bridge by simply undercutting it a few centimeters.  This
> accomplishes the same thing but does not add the excessive mass and the
> off-center stress load on the soundboard that are common to the cantilever
>
> Regards,
>
> Del
>
>