Seasonal pitch change:

[Ron Nossaman]

>> Why would there be no down force on the bridge "for a bit"? And how, 
>> if soundboard rise and fall will have so little effect on tuning, 
>> would that explain it anyway? And what would conceivably make 
>> soundboards bulge at plate struts?
>> Ron N
> 
> I'm thinking of designs where there are no strings running under the 
> struts, and thus there's a horizontal gap of an inch or two between the 
> bridge pins for strings on either side of the strut.  No strings, no 
> downforce in that small area; bulging?  

I see. There is still down force under the cutout, because the 
bridge is still continuous, though weakened by the cutout. The 
lowered stiffness there will likely affect the tone some, or 
even a lot, but not the tuning. No bulge.


>If the bridge itself is plenty 
> strong, is it just the scaling problem caused by the interruption of the 
> strut that creates the instability?  (As you mentioned in an earlier post)

Yes. Actually, I wouldn't exactly characterize it as 
instability. It does just what it was designed to do - goes 
out of tune more than everything around it. It's just that the 
designers either weren't aware, or didn't care about the 
ramifications of the design.


> --Cy--
> 
> P.S.  Wish I could come up to Salt Lake next month.


Then come ahead on. If you don't, you'll just stay home and work.
Ron N