Urgent need of help with three technical terms

[David Nereson]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Andreas Risberg
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:30 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Urgent need of help with three technical terms


Fellow colleagues,

I am new to the list and I’m in urgent need of help. Currently I’m working
on translating a pt textbook from Norwegian into English. There are a few
technical terms that I don’t know in English. I hope someone will be able
to
help me.

The first term is the down-bearing pressure that the strings exert on the
bridge. Is there a common name for it in English?

The second term is only applicable in uprights. When the hammer touches
the
strings, there’s a small difference between the distance from the strings
to
the shank, just beneath the hammerhead, and the distance from the strings
to
the shank down at the butt. Directly translated from Norwegian to English
it
would be called Hammer Fall Angle. Ironically, although it’s called an
angle
it’s expressed in mm instead of degrees since it’s the difference between
two distances. What is the English name?

The third term is the name of the surfaces, areas, fields or sections on
the
pinblock where there are tuning pins. All the tuning pins will typically
be
grouped into 4, 5 or 6 fields. What is the name for this?

Any help will be deeply appreciated! Many thanks in advance, Andreas
Risberg

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	"Down-bearing pressure" is the only term I've ever heard. (Downbearing
itself is the actual angle from the bridge to the hitch pin).
	As for "hammer fall angle," I think that's what we usually call
"overstriking" or "understriking," since if the bore length (bore
distance) of the hammer isn't exactly equal to the distance from the
strings to the center of the shank, the hammer will hit the strings
slightly above or below the center line of the hammer molding (British,
"moulding").  The preceding assumes that the hammer is at 90 degrees to
the string when it contacts the string.  If it's not, the hammers are said
to have some "rake," which can range from nothing to as much as 5 degrees,
depending on the piano.  I think I measured 7 or 8 degrees once, which was
extreme, in an old Steinway upright.  When new hammers are hung, they are
usually made to understrike a bit, to allow for future hammer filing.
This distance I would say is less than 3 mm or so.
	The areas of the pinblock where groups of tuning pins are located are
usually called the tuning pin "field(s)," just as you had it.  Many
uprights have only two, the bass and the treble.  I don't know if I've
ever seen six, but maybe I haven't paid attention.
	Your English is impeccable.  Few Americans know even one word of
Norwegian, but then the most common foreign languages taught in schools
here are Spanish, French, and German.
	--David Nereson (a Norwegian name), RPT