Walter Coupling Strap

[Phillip Ford]

>
>  > I'm not familiar with the Walter coupling strap.  I didn't find anything
>>  about it on their website.  Would you mind sharing some details?  Do you
>>  have pictures?
>
>
>No, I don't seem to have any pictures of this little device. And that may
>not be what they call it.
>
>It is simply a steel strap (approx. 1" w x 5/8" thick) that extends from the
>bottom of the plate at the bass/tenor "X" over to the top of the bellyrail.
>Mostly it prevents the plate from drifting down as tension is applied to the
>strings but it does couple some moderate amount of string load to the top of
>the bellyrail directly in line with a bellybrace. Not as much as the
>Steinway horn/wedge arrangement, but some. Most of the string load is still
>born by the plate.
>
>Del

If I'm picturing this correctly, it sounds like something I've seen 
on some older Knabes.  A piece of bar stock angled at about 45 
degrees down from the underside of the plate at the crossover.  It 
was a removable piece fitted into a notch on the underside of the 
plate and butted against a plate on the bellyrail.  The point on the 
plate was forward of (to the keyboard side of) the point on the 
bellyrail, so it was in compression.  When I saw the word strap I was 
imagining (for no good reason) that this thing might be in tension.

Phil Ford