String termination question

[Richard Brekne]

I wouldnt take it as a mistake to start wondering about such things :)  
Go for it ! 

As to string seating. My take is that most... nearly all of the bridge 
string seating endeavours out there are counter productive in the end. 
You dont need kinks around the bridge pins, and you dont need to mash 
the string down into the bridge to get at some concept of tonewood or to 
produce a better termination then already is created by the properly 
placed bridge pin and notch.  The only thing you need to assure is that 
the string is actually down on the face of the bridge along the entire 
surface of the bridge. That is very easily accomplished by wooden dowel 
and a very light tap along the string.

Anything more aggressive is bound to stress the wood at the bridge pin 
hole and the pin itself more then it ever will the string itself. The 
side pressure required to form a kink around the bridge pin will 
elongate the surface area of the bridge pin hole and introduce more 
springyness to the termination... with all the potential that has for 
creating false beats. Mashing the string down into the surface just 
creates a negative bearing situation at the termination itself... 
effectively moving the  X (or Y if you like) termination further back on 
the bridge surface... which both creates essentially two string lengths 
introduces a similar springyness to the part of the termination the 
bridge pin contributes.

Beyond the very careful seating procedure outlined above... the addition 
of CA to the bridge pin hole seems to be the most effective tool for 
further cleaning up the sound of a string.

Cheers
RicB


    Greetings All --
     
    I made the mistake of thinking the other day, and I started
    wondering why
    piano strings are terminated at the bridge on both the X and Y axis
    but at
    the capo bar, or agraffe, on only the X, (or perhaps that's Y
    depending on
    how you are looking at it), axis. We go to lengths to make sure the
    strings
    are seated properly at the bridge so that there is a definite and
    precise
    termination in both planes at the bridge and bridge pin. Why then is the
    lack of termination in both planes not a problem at the agraffe and
    capo bar
    end?
     
    -- Geoff Sykes, Los Angeles