[CAUT] Re: Impact Tuning

[James Ellis]

Don Rose would like me to expand on a statement that I made that inpact
tuning works in some cases, but not in others - i.e., the reasons why.

Don, the short answer is that there are so many variables.  At one extreme,
we have tuning pins that are too lose to hold.  At the other extreme, we
have pins that are so tight it's a toss-up whether the pin will turn in the
block, bend, or break off at the eye.  There are all sorts of conditions in
between these extremes - some blocks with plenty of resiliency, and others
that are hard as rocks.  

And to further complicate the matter, some pins in some very hard blocks
will be farily loose at the top, but very tight at the botton.  When you
try to set these, the pin just twists until there is enough torque to
overcome the frection at the botton end, and then it jumps with a shap.  We
have all encountered this, and it's very frustrating.

Then we have conditions where there is a lot of friction and drag at the
agraffe, V-bar, or capo bar.  Worse still is the situation where the string
jumps in the agraffe.  Couple this with junping pins, and you get the
picture.  Then we have the opposite condition where there is so little
friction at the bearing point that just touching the pin will make the
string move.

Right now, I don't use an impact hammer, but when I can't get a tuning pin
to settle at the right spot any other way, I'll sometimes use my hamd
against the handle of the tuning hammer in an impact mode.  It may work, or
it may not.  I should add:  In this particular case, I'm talking about
verticals.  I don't ever remember doing it while tuning a grand.

In summary, it's just that there are so many variables.  You will find that
there are cases where an impact method will do a better job gatting you
where you want to go, but you will find many others where it will not, and
the standard hammer techniques will work best.

Sincerely, Jim Ellis