Bridge pin angles

[Phillip Ford]

Thinking some more about bridge notch crushing.  Aside from making the cap 
from some impenetrable substance, one way to reduce bearing stress at the 
notch edge would be to reduce resistance to the upward movement of the 
string.  This could be done by reducing side bearing angle and bridge pin 
angle.  If there was no side offset at all and the pin was straight up and 
down then it could easily slide as the bridge moved and the downbearing 
would be enough to keep it seated on the bridge at all times.  Of course, 
it wouldn't sound too good.  I wonder what lower limits would be?  Has 
anyone experimented with this.  I would think that establishing minimum 
sidebearing angle would be something that some piano company has worked 
on.  Is anyone aware of any numbers?  Bridge pin angle is something that 
seems less obvious as an item of investigation, but perhaps work has been 
done on that too.  Anyone know of anything?

Phil Ford