---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Ron I'd have to agree. The first wide bellied disappointment that comes to mind is the Mason AA. Also the BB is also a design with IMHO narrow build parameters. If ever a piano need less soundboard acreage it surely is this. I like the idea that the bridge is closer to the middle of the panel & rib lay out which, is one advantage to adding a bass cut-off but the massive length of the ribs (ie 46 or 48 inches in the bass corner precludes much enduring or significant crown stability. I've heard some of these that were set up wrong in one fashion or another & they frankly , to my ear , sounded like a 7 ft spinet. Unless steps are taken to add a bass cut-off thereby shortening the ribs & adding a fish with some extra treble ribs , the tone remains unfocused. Appropriate & ample amounts of bearing are of course, in my mind, what drives the engine of any good setup & the BB is no exception. I will say that a few of the asian wide bellied small grands seem to have some very amazing sustain in the treble. I looked at a schaefer 5 ft the other day which belongs to my apprentice.Hey I'm no fan of schafers but honestly the sustain doesn't get better the this one. I had put Isaac hammers in it many years ago & they were getting all that was to be had. The bass is of course a disappointment but the body of the piano was so wide you could hardly call it a curve. A true freakazoid It had a sitka panel & I didn't look at the ribbing but something was working except of course the bass tenor cross over . Usual trash design. but the melody range was just amazing for a small piano. Regards Dale Ron Overs Writes There is one factor which might be an advantage with the overstrung layout. It allows for longer speaking lengths in the low tenor, provided that the bass bridge is positioned far enough away from the straight side to allow room for the longer tenor scale and its accompanying hitch pin belt. Some will argue that you can have a long scale on the plain wire string section of a straight or oblique layout provided the case is a wide bellied design, but I've not been particularly impressed with a number of the wide bellied cases I've heard in recent years. I realise that the examples I'm thinking of are overstrung, but I think the same lack of tonal focus would plague the straight strung layout if one were to use a wide belly. The wide bellied fashion is really raging in piano-design land at the moment. But its a fashion I have no intention of taking up. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/ac/00/1f/d8/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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