>>How do the rim braces fit into this? I've heard it said that they are only >>there to >>keep the belly rail from rolling. > >Stiffness. A stiff and excessively braced rim and belly rail is less a >vibrational sink than just a stiff rim and belly rail. By my design >philosophy, a rim can't be too stiff. Particularly the long side and belly >rail, but generally overall. Does this mean that you modify the bracing on your pianos? Many pianos seem to have no bracing along the straight side. And many seem to have all belly rail support concentrated in one spot, and in a spot that I might think it's not so important that it be stiff. > >Perhaps you could carry this to an extreme and have the soundboard resting on >>a thin knife edge around the perimeter, as in a guitar or violin. Why would >>this >>be a bad idea? > >I don't know, why? As long as the rim is sufficiently stiff and massive and >the gluing surface was adequate to anchor the board, why not? Functionally, >there would be no appreciable difference if there were 5 millimeters or 500 >millimeters of soundboard securely glued to the rim. > >Ron N Actually I was thinking more of a theoretical rim which is not massive at all but is more like a piece of sheet metal bent around in the shape of the board perimeter. It would be so light and flexible that it couldn't absorb any energy. The opposite of the conventional thinking which is make it massive and stiff so it won't absorb energy. Well, how about make it so light and so flexible that it can't absorb energy? Phil F -- Click here for your very own create-a-date adventure from MatchMaker Go to http://ecard.matchmaker.com/dating.html
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