This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Re: string termination ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Overs Pianos=20 To: Pianotech=20 Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 6:01 AM Subject: Re: string termination Terry, Ron - a typo? Do you mean the new plating thickness will be 0.075 mm = (3 thou)? Yes that was a typo. The plating thickness is 0.075 mm, or 3 thou. A = zero went missing in haste. Why then not make a agraffe out of steel or some other harder = material? I made a custom set of agraffes for a Steinway D we rebuilt for the = ABC in 1998. I made them from SAE 1040 steel, which is considerably = harder than free machining brass. We plated the 1040 agraffes with 2 = thou of electroless nickel (and hardened the nickel plating to 60 = Rockwell). These agraffes were without doubt the cleanest sounding set = of agraffes we've ever done. I haven't made any others since then. Can = you imagine how much effort it is to turn and machine up a set of these = things using a screw cutting lathe and a milling attachment? That may be difficult for the one-off small-shop piano builder, but = if there were a demand to others..... Why would this be so difficult? The cost in machining agraffes from something harder would probably = make manufacturers shy away from using the harder material. Mind you, = with today's ceramic cutting tools the task would be more do-able than = it was. Why would brass persist so long? It should be bypassed for the purpose of string terminations. Its a = very poor material for the purpose. \Why not use other termination types like a capo-type bar in all = string sections like you see on cheap old American microgrands? What = about something more like an upright pressure bar arrangement? These would certainly work, but it would give the high enders a bit of = an agricultural look wouldn't it?=20 That's a new expression for me. You mean it will look like it was = built by a bunch of dirt farmers??? And after all, the piano business is as much about perceived fashion = than practically. I agree. A customer will say "I don't care what it looks like but it = has to sound good". We all know he means the opposite. I just can't see the higher enders taking up full compass capo bars = any time soon. Mind you, Stuart has done just that with a full set of = agraffes mounted in the underside of the bar. Its is a workable = solution. Hardened bridge pins would be costly? I can see such an argument = from a Chinese manufacturer, but from a famous American or European = manufacturer who "spares no expense to create an uncompromised = instrument?" That's just the thing Terry, the high enders claim that they don't = spare expense (the brochures tend to be full of cheap sales chat), but = its all over the instrument. They would be seem to be pretty careful not = to get into anything too difficult (which would put the price of = production up). I realize that if a pin costs a nickel or dime rather than two = cents, times 500 pins, that would increase the cost of building the = piano by $15 - $40....... or am I missing something? Or are the = upper-end larger, uncompromising, manufacturers really that cheap? I suspect they just might be. But then again, the high enders who = remain are the ones who have actually survived the slings and arrows of = economic fortune. Its easy for us to criticise what we perceive to be = cost cutting, but those who didn't do it haven't survived. Ron O. --=20 OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY Grand Piano Manufacturers _______________________ Web http://overspianos.com.au mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au _______________________ ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/91/75/07/34/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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