Bridge Capping Materials: Ebony?

[Ron Nossaman]

> Ulrich Sauter showed me the titanium bridge pins Sauter is now using 
> (only) on their concert Grands.  The idea is that titanium is extremely 
> hard and therefore conducts vibrations readily.  As well, its low 
> density and low elasticity give it ideal vibrational characteristics for 
> bridge pins. 

I don't see why, other than marketing. Titanium is today's magic 
material of choice for making nearly everything, because everyone 
knows it's super strong, durable, and stiff. If you were to look it 
up, even a mild low carbon steel is listed as having significantly 
higher values for hardness, tensile strength, and modulus of 
elasticity than does titanium. Titanium is light, however, and it's 
magic is in it's strength to weight ratio and high temperature 
operating range, which makes it a good choice for building (rumored) 
hypersonic aircraft. It works well in tuning levers because the 
shaft can be made thick enough to make a very rigid lever of a lower 
weight than a steel lever of equal stiffness. So Ulrich is using a 
harder cap, and a softer, lighter pin in the concert grand bridges.


> I was thinking that if there be interest from rebuilders to try titanium 
> bridge pins. 

Without some indication of an actual performance advantage, I don't 
think I would. I would be interested to see how these pins are 
marked by the strings over time, and how the combination of cap and 
pin ages as a termination.

Ron N