Bob, I don't have the resource book to look it up, but I'd guess Cast Iron internal damping is on the order of 0.5% or less. For the sake of argument, lets assume the Vacuum processing changes the internal damping by 50% (extremely unlikely), which makes it 0.75% Now you attach this to a wood rim and sub-frame with internal damping of 5% (again assumed). With this difference in damping coefficients, I just don't see how the vacuum part noticeably would affect the acoustics. There are so many other factors that are more dominate acoustics. I've been wrong before... :-) doug richards San Jose, CA -----Original Message----- From: Robert A. Anderson [mailto:fndango@azstarnet.com] Sent: Saturday, August 14, 1999 9:37 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Re: V Pro discussion This discussion reminded me of something I read quite a while ago. I quote from Edward McMorrow's THE EDUCATED PIANO (ISBN 0-929738-00-4), pp. 7,8: "The plates with the best acoustic properties are those in which a soft grey iron has been formed during the casting process. This soft iron damps metallic ringing sounds and hammer noise more than any other type of ferrous material. This damping ability is maximized when the casting cools slowly. Slow cooling also produces a soft metal, which significantly reduces breakage of the strings at the plate termination point....The most modern casting method is the automated vacuum-pattern process, which turns out very precise plates with awesome rapidity. This method has facilitated the development of a mass-production, assembly-line style of piano construction. All plates are precisely alike, and as little sand as possible is used to produce them. These plates do not damp metallic noise as well as the traditionally-made plates, and their harder metal causes premature string breakage. It seems a waste of resources and energy to produce pianos with these kinds of tone quality and serviceability problems. These casting methods are superb for producing economical internal combustion engine blocks, but for quality piano plates they are unacceptable." Comments, anyone? Bob Anderson Tucson, AZ
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