Bridge caps

[Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 4/2/2001 2:56:19 PM Central Daylight Time, 
RNossaman@KSCABLE.com writes:

<< But the pin depth in the bridge is for mechanical support, not energy
 transfer. All the energy stuff happens right there at the termination
 point. That's not an impedance concern. >>

I couldn't disagree more. This, FWIW, is also an unsupported speculation. We 
are talking about a complex termination here, with the string contact on both 
the surface of the bridge at a tangent point to the diameter of the string 
and on the pin at a position above the bridge plane depending on the gauge of 
wire and angle of pin. To say that the pin depth has nothing to do with 
energy transfer is totally counterintuitive. And it is an impedance concern; 
any analysis of the Wapin structure would lead to impedance concerns. What 
exactly impedance concerns, I can't say for sure yet, nor can they, but 
obviously the decoupling effect of changing the angle of the bridge pin and 
having a higher contact point on the pin with the string is causing a sustain 
change, read impedance effect. To clarify myself (like butter?) a bit more, I 
don't think we're talking about huge energy concerns here; minute ones at 
best, but still energy transfer. Aside from intuition, my real experience has 
been that deeply driven, bottomed, and least expose pin top structures have 
greater clarity of tone production than any with these and other variables 
not in evidence. I can only go on what experience has been proving to me time 
and time again as we try to get better at what we do. 

As far as the unsatisfactory nature of intuition, I can't say. :)
PR-J