The 1893 Julius Bauer

[John Delacour]

At 10:56 -0500 2/3/08, erwinspiano at aol.com wrote:

>...The entire soundboard system is notÊattached to the case but to 
>the massive plate.  TheÊplate in turn is fastened/screwed to the 
>case...

Hello Dale,

Very interesting.  I see from your latest pictures that the board is 
barred both top and bottom.  What with that and the 46-50 mm bridge, 
you've got some stiff soundboard there!  As you know from several 
postings of mine in the past, and just the other day, I am convinced 
of the virtue of a tall bridge.  How long is the piano?  It looks 
about 5'9".

Brinsmead also made a piano with a removable frame/soundboard 
assembly but exactly when I'm not sure and I've not seen one yet.  I 
got a fine 5'6" Brinsmead a few weeks ago but that is just the usual 
straight-forward Brinsmead construction, and I've just bought a 5'10" 
for $60 on spec off ebay.  Who knows, it might turn out to be one of 
these, but I rather doubt it.  I think he did that experiment in the 
1880s or 90s.

The bridges seem to end quite close to the rim on the Bauer and yet 
the board seems not to be floated (as it would be on a Brinsmead). 
It looks as though the scalloping of the bars starts far nearer the 
bridge on the top side than on the bottom, which makes sense.  Have 
you tested to see if the thickness of the board is tapered?

JD

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