dented piano wireOFF LIST

[Paul Chick]

Ron
To date I haven't noticed any loss in power and a slight improvement in
clarity. But all bridge pins are cleaned, tight or replaced. If down bearing
is set correctly, the weight per string shouldn't be enough to collapse the
terminating edge of the bridge cap. I can see that hard blows on the strings
to reseat them could break the square edge easier than the angled one. The
original bridges in the 5 or 6 Chickerings I've seen with this style of
notching were indeed holding up well.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Nossaman <nossaman@SOUTHWIND.NET>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 6:52 PM
Subject: Re: dented piano wireOFF LIST


>
>>Ron
>>I've tried this techinque on a couple of my grands. The first time I saw
it
>>was on an1898 Chickering. The vertical cut of the notch was just behind
the
>>center of the bridge pin and only a milimeter deep- imperceptable until
the
>>bridge caps were cleaned. Inspite of the old stringa and dirt in the
>>notches, the piano had a remarkably clear sound (taking in the other
factors
>>that contribute to this). With that experience, I tried it on the next
>>restringing that did not require new bridge caps (my pianos). Again better
>>termination-cleaner sound. My grands were sold and have been performing
well
>>for several years.  I've since tried it on other makes that have been in
for
>>restringing etc. and all the clients are very pleased. When I go to
service
>>these pianos, some string setting is necessary before tuning and that
>>clarity is restored.
>>Paul Chick
>
>
>Hi Paul,
>I tried it on a couple of pianos too, some years back. It didn't strike me
>as sounding any cleaner than any other decent notch, so I went back to the
>more "standard" notching. I just offered it as a solution to the
>bridge/string termination point moving forward as the string crushes into
>the bridge top. I've personally found more string noise problems with loose
>and worn bridge pins than with worn notches, so I'm not all that sure it's
a
>real big deal anyway. Del points out that support is lost at  the string
>termination with this kind of notch, which certainly has to be the case,
so,
>if anything, I would think it ought to lose you some power and clarity.
>
> Ron N
>