Sohmer

[Ron Nossaman]

>Turn them suckers!!  Care must be taken when backing out
>pressure bar screws, they can break easily because of the
>pressure they are under.  There should be just enough
>deflection of the wire to prevent it from dancing upon the
>v-bar with a hard blow.  Any more than that is unnecessary
>and undesirable.  Changing the angle of deflection with NOT
>change tone or volume and very well improve tunability.
>
>		Newton

Right, and wrong. One each - the universe is in balance. While it won't
change tone and volume adversely, you do need more deflection angle than is
necessary to keep the string from dancing around. You need it for the
friction it supplies, so the string will stay where you put it and not move
if you breathe on the tuning pin. That inadequate counter bearing angle is
most of what makes the 1098s so miserable to tune. I still have a couple of
them fresh in my alleged mind, and can still picture the problem a little
too vividly. The Sohmer may very easily have too little bearing already,
rather than too much. If it's over 20°, it may be too much (put probably
not unless it's over 30°), and if it's under 10°, it's probably too little.
If the counter bearing angle is in the 15°-25° range, that probably isn't
the problem.

That's enough damage for now, so tell us. What's the approximate current
counter bearing angle in the area you're having trouble with? 

Ron N