Cracked plate

[John Delacour]

At 10:36 PM +0000 12/15/01, Barrie Heaton wrote:

>I have found that all the virgin Bec's I have done, rocked on the pillar
>bolts 3 turns down and the plate is flat, but then you must put the 3
>turns back when all the other bolts are in place (it tests your bottle),
>1#  this puts the frame bars in  tension, most Bec's i have seen with
>major cracks that I have destrung did not rock when you removed the
>frame, However, i have had reports of frames having cracks on virgin
>plates but not very bad.   My next but one project is a Becky with
>cracks in the bars and running from the agraffe, which you can pass a
>playing card most of the way up the crack.     A bit of pub trivia;  not
>all Bechsteins were made in Germany some were made in the UK by
>Hopkinnson and Rogers.

Well Barrie, there's enough double-entendre in that paragraph to keep 
a pub amused from 6 pm till chucking out time :-)