----- Original Message ----- From: <A440A@AOL.COM> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: December 19, 2000 1:15 PM Subject: Re: Stringing the Steinway buttons > The purpose, as I understand it, of these buttons is to even the sound > transmission along the length of the bridge while allowing the soundboard more > freedom to move in that area of lower frequency's origin. > I know that Del Fandrich can discuss the impedance needs of the board in > this area with more authority than most of the rest of us, but I have always > figured that the most efficient stiffness for the soundboard is going to > change along the length of the bridge, ie, the high end will profit most from > resistance that would choke the bottom, ( sounds sorta like my marriage, at > times!) > Regards, > Ed ---------------------------------------------- Ed, Would you like to run that last sentence by us one more time? Or am I just particularly dense this morning? (It's been known...) If you're saying what I think you're saying -- yes, the soundboard assembly does, indeed, need to be somewhat stiffer throughout the treble region than along the low end of the tenor bridge. I've never quite figured out what that bridge cut-out/soundboard dowel/button arrangement was supposed to accomplish. Nor, after 30 plus years of asking and more than a couple of trips to 'The Factory' have I received any two consistent explanations as to just what it is they are supposed to accomplish. If the idea is to really make the soundboard assembly more flexible, they don't do that. The grain angle of the soundboard is close enough to being parallel to the bridge through that region that it doesn't really matter much if the bridge is connected or not. Besides, it is connected via the dowel/button arrangement. No, the problem here is one of scaling and, to a lesser extent, bridge placement. No amount of bridge undercutting and doweling and buttoning is going to overcome that limitation. Still, your solution to the loose button syndrome is quite elegant. WDITOT? Regards, Del
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC