Jumping in... I don't routinely tap strings at the bridge unless I have some tonal or tuning difficulty. For me, a light tap, can do wonders for the unfocused tone I have heard in, for instance, Japanese pianos. What is happening? I wish I knew. Surely others have seated strings and watched the string visibly move down and the pitch drop, sometimes 4 cents? And once seated the string won't visibly move down again. For me, this is another test to see if seating is warranted. Does the string move down when tapped. I can hear the difference and that's all I need to know but I don't routinely seat strings before every tuning. For some reason Asian pianos seem more prone to needing this...? David I. ----- Original message ----------------------------------------> From: David Skolnik <davidskolnik@optonline.net> To: College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org> Received: Sun, 04 Apr 2004 16:16:28 -0400 Subject: Re: Strings riding up (was Tuning stability) >Ric - >I've tried your procedure before, and again just now, just to remind myself >why it doesn't entirely work. First, if the downbearing is positive but >slight, the difference in height between the string groove and the surface >the string would rest upon in its modified position could be enough to >cause an error. Also, at least when I did it just now, by shifting the >string to the opposite side of the rear bridge pin, it crosses the planed >surface of the adjacent string, towards the bass, which could further alter >your reading. In other words, if it's really close, you can get a false >positive, or maybe even a false negative. If, on the other hand, you are >of the opinion that less than a certain amount of downbearing showing is >about as bad as none at all, the method can be useful. It's just that so >much of what I see falls into the close range. >One of my concerns, stemming from the original (recent) discussion, begun >by Jeff Stickney (3/25/04 Tuning Stability) was what appeared to me to be >an unwarranted shifting of responsibility for negative front bearing onto >the process of string seating. I think some of the alternative culprits >that have come up in my discussion with Ron have been quite illuminating, >for me at least. >With regard to your observation that tapping can have a beneficial, if >temporary effect, what do you think is happening to initially cause the >distortion and how do you think tapping solve it? >Regards, >David Skolnik >At 08:19 PM 4/4/2004 +0200, you wrote: >>Hi Folks... just in for a quickie on sunday nite and had to reply to this >>as its one of my favorite subjects. >> >>Next time you run into one of those strings that <<need tapping>> or for >>whatever reasons find itself up the pins a bit and slightly removed from >>the bridge, do the following. >> >>Loosen the string and pull it off the back bridge pin so the it runs a >>straight line over the bridge instead of weaving through the bridge >>pins. Leave the string where it is usually relative to the front bridge >>pin. Then bring it up to tension and take real close look at the >>interface between the bridge and string. If there is contact all the way, >>then you have positive bearing and tapping the string would have lasting >>effect. If on the other hand there is no contact then you have the >>situation Ron Nossaman goes on about, which David Love echoed in his last post. >> >>Some would have it that when the strings find themselves up the pins as it >>were.. that the later is always the case. My experience is othewise and I >>find tapping a usefull proceedure when used judiciously and >>carefully. And even in the case of the latter... tapping can be a usefull >>tool in cleaning up a pianos sound for short term situations such as >>concerts, recording sessions... etc. >> >>Cheers >> >>RicB >> >>Ed Sutton wrote: >> >>>Of course, neither of us has definitive documented proof of our >>>positions. I, at least, do not. While this discussion might seem too >>>abstract to warrant this amount of time and space on this list, it >>>disturbs me to think that the information we disseminate might not be as >>>solid as we would like to believe. Of course, the other disturbing >>>thought is that I might be totally wrong and that my subscribing >>>privileges haven't yet been revoked! >>> >>>David Skolnik >>>Where is that student with the high-speed video project who was mentioned >>>during our MOI discussions? >>>We need some high speed microsopic videos of string terminations in action! >>> >>>Ed Sutton >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >_______________________________________________ >caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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