Tuning stability

[Richard Brekne]

Doug Wood wrote:

>Perhaps I'm turning the pins too fast when I'm taking the old strings out.
>I'll have to try slower next time (hopefully not soon...). They end up
>feeling as before restringing, but it seems to have taken months to "settle
>down". Similar to the experiences I've had with the new pianos. Much harder
>to tune in their first year, in large part because the tuning pins are
>tighter. 
>

Oh hey... I'll buy into this well enough.  A newly restrung piano isnt 
going to hold nearly as well over weeks as a settled piano will.  That 
said you can get them up and ready for a concert, and as long as we are 
not talking festival season or exams week with heavy usage, a full time 
CAUT should be able to find the needed time to keep them close enough so 
that an hours tuning before any subsequent concerts will do the job.

We just pulled down the capo section of a Hamburg D a couple years back. 
In that week it was given new hammers and shanks, new strings, new 
bridge pins (same size as origionals but with a few drops of CA into the 
holes before insertion, and a capo redress. Strings started comming off 
on a monday and the following wednesday the instrument was in its new 
location and played on for the opening concert of a new concert location 
in town by one of the best classical players in Norway. The instrument 
held very nicely through the concert but by the end of the week was sour 
apples of course. Frequent tunings over the ensuing weeks brought it 
back into line nicely and it was used several times during that first 
few weeks without problem.

Its a bit extra work to be sure tho.

Cheers
RicB

>I'm referring specifically to Steinways here, both because they're
>most of what I work on, and because I think it is part of how the Steinway
>pinblock is supposed to work. They block seems to relax into the proper
>feel, and even out the feel quite a bit over a year or so. A one-year-old
>Steinway (properly maintained) is much more fun to tune than a new one!!!
>  
>

You  sure got that right... I have a couple C's I do weekly sessions 
with and its almost like play time.

>It has long been my habit to turn the pins only to where the becket points
>at me, then wind a coil on a spare pin, etc. The total rotation is just
>about 3/4 turn each way, most of the time. (Most of this is in individual
>replacements, of course.)
>
>Doug Wood
>
>  
>
Cheers
RicB