S&S D Duplex

[Ron Nossaman]

>Swallowing some pride is a very small price to pay for the ability to 
>produce "a singing tone" in pianos, on a repeated basis, one after 
>another, without fail. But I haven't found a consistent relationship 
>between great sounding pianos, and an exact tuning between the main and 
>rear duplex segments of the strings.

Nor are you likely to, or it would have been so glaringly obvious for so 
many years that this discussion wouldn't be taking place. That's one of the 
reasons why I think the tuned rear duplex was adopted primarily to make 
noise to try and compensate for an inefficient soundboard assembly (too low 
impedance through the top half of the scale characteristic of compression 
crowned boards). Steinways aren't generally noted for their extended treble 
sustain times, so where is all this compelling tone and sustain improvement 
that is desirable enough for everyone to copy and worship? If the tuned 
rear duplex is the critical soul of the Steinway sound and increased 
sustain, why doesn't Steinway tune them when they're installed? Wouldn't 
that make them either unconvinced as to the merit of their own patent and 
marketing, or monumentally stupid? And I don't believe they're stupid.


>  (Case in point: On Fri, I stopped at the local Steinway dealer north of 
> here and tried a great sounding M the mid treble rear duplex bar started 
> off with a "near"-ninth and ended up with a "near"-augmented fourth.)

Right. If the tuned duplex is where the magic is, and the duplex isn't tuned...

Ron N