Alden, Having worked on this one a lot, I'll have to contradict you here. You're right about the geometry of the bridge when the wedge isn't there, but the wedge pushes the bridge onto the soundboard and when it's not sounding it is at rest on the soundboard, just like on the French.
There is a big difference, though, you are correct. The adjustment mechanism works on a different principle. With the French the tirant increases lateral pressure and tends to pull it up and away from the sound board. Tighten the tirant and it makes it require less energy to lift up, so the tirant is working against the natural geometry of the string and bridge by pulling it up. The Hungarian mechanism does too, because the natural geometry of the string and bridge is to sit too high. But the wedge applies direct downward pressure on the string to bring it into a state exactly analogous to the French system. Note that the adjustment is not made by pushing the wedge in and out. It's from rotating it closer to or further from the bridge. If you swing it closer it increases the downward pressure in proximity of the bridge and makes it harder to lift up, thus making it less sensitive. Swing the wedge away from the bridge and the pressure by the bridge lessens, allowing it to swing up more easily and it becomes more sensitive. The in and out position of the wedge tends to stay pretty much the same once you've got it set up. You might fiddle with that aspect a bit on a new instrument, but after you know the instrument you just know where it should be and don't change that aspect at all. When it's properly set up if you push it in it clamps down on the bridge and you get no sound. Pull it out too far and you also get no sound because the thing is sitting up in the air off the sound board, but get it right and it's held against it, just like the French. However, what you describe can actually be done with the instrument (I've done it, as an experiment), but that's not the way it's actually done by players (or the makers in Hungary). If you adjust it the way you say, you get a really imprecise and uncontrollable sound. -Arle On Mar 3, 2010, at 6:23 PM, Alden F M Hackmann wrote: > > > I have to disagree, with all due respect. If the Hungarian is resting on the > soundboard, why does pushing the wedge in farther makes the dog more > sensitive? The action of pushing the wedge in brings the tail end of the > string, the part between the dog and the tail, closer to the soundboard, > pushing it down onto the soundboard. If the dog is sitting at rest on the > soundboard, a downward vector of more force would simply act to keep it there > even better. Instead, the dog is more sensitive, making more noise. > > Alden F.M. Hackmann [email protected] > > "Beati illi qui in circulum circumeunt, fient enim magnae rotae." > > On Wed, 3 Mar 2010, [email protected] wrote: > >> Hello, >> >> >>> The Hungarian and the French trompettes work in opposite ways. >>> The Hungarian dog's foot rests up in the air by default: there is no >>> contact between the foot and the soundboard when the string is at rest. >>> When the string vibrates gently, it causes the dog's foot to wave up and >>> down in the air. When the wheel speed is increased, the string vibrates >>> more strongly, and the dog's foot waves farther up and down. In doing so, >>> it hits the soundboard at the lower end of its arc, and causes the buzzing >>> sound. >> >> I played several instruments with hungarian style mechanism for years and >> at many occasions, I owned two f them myself (Budapest is about two and a >> half hours by car from Vienna). The bridge of the hungarian system rests at >> the soundboard as the french one does, they both work the same way. >> >> Sorry for correcting you Alden, >> Simon >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "hurdygurdy" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy >> >> The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at >> http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new >> subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "hurdygurdy" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy > > The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at > http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new > subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
