Tuning stability

[Richard Brekne]

Jeff Stickney wrote:

>Ric, Fred, Mark and all,
>	I'm convinced that partial restringing would benefit the piano
>and my frustration level.  The question I have at this point is this:
>If I go ahead with the work next week (spring break), would the new
>strings be stable enough to be used the next week? 
>

Thats definantly a doable. Tho you will have to work at it.  You can get 
'em off, redress the capo,  CA the bridge pins and get new strings on 
the whole capo section in a day no problem. That gives you a couple days 
to get more involved if you want to and still get thing back up to 
tension and stable over the next few days.

> I have restrung
>pianos before, and would know to seat and lift strings to establish the
>bends (after the piano is at pitch - or maybe a little above), but I
>haven't done a partial job with the mix of old and new strings.  Would
>it be best to wait until the end of the semester when I would not be
>under the gun as much to get it done and back in action?  
>

Well, you certainly will have more time on your hands over the summer.  
But  getting this job done in a weeks time is no biggie.

>If you think
>it would be doable, any other ideas to hasten the stability?  
>
You can run a roller along the strings... but push sideways and away 
from the bridge pins.  You can also use needle nose pliers to pinch 
lightly  around the hitch pin.  Pre-lifting the strings helps... just 
lift firmly all of them once through before going on to your string 
leveling proceedure.  And leave the pitch on the new strings at 442-444 
for the first day or two.

>Leave the
>piano at 442 for a few days?  Would it be best to do one section at a
>time, rather than unstring the whole mid-range to the top at once?  If I
>use CA on the bridge pins, it would probably work better to do them all
>at once so it can set up - or can you string fairly soon after applying
>the CA? 
>

You can string up nearly immediatly after applying CA.  Drip enough in 
so that each hole wont accept any more and quickly clean up any extra 
with a cloth... (have a good supply of cloths ready at hand). Dont be 
overly liberal, and make sure you have good ventilation.

>Sorry to be so full of questions, but if I'm going to stick my
>neck out a bit, I'd like to do it with the benefit of your experience
>behind me.  I appreciate your input.  Thanks,
>  
>

You might also round off the voicing a bit....  Taking just a touch off 
the bite of a piano really goes a long ways towards cleaning up the sound.

>Jeff Stickney, RPT
>University of Montana
>jpstickney@montanadsl.net
>
>
>  
>
Cheers, and good luck

RicB