[CAUT] RE : huge pitch raise question

Michelle Stranges stranges at oswego.edu
Thu Jan 11 08:41:15 MST 2007


Awwright now.
That's it..

So far I've been called "jerk", now "child" and someone very  
important in this group (and to me) even called me a... (prepare  
yourself..)  WIMP.

:(

I will only admit to being a jerk- and there's PLENTY of you on here  
I see.

No I have not had this problem on all my big pitch raised pianos.  
What they share in common is being really flat, studio sized and are  
brands like Sohmer, Baldwin, etc...
What I was feeling was some extra friction somewhere but I think  
someone mentioned to be more aware of the pinkblock reacting  
differently upon bringing up the pitch so much.
The consensus seems to be that there's some flaw in the string to  
begin with, and the (mostly midrange) breaks that have occured have  
either been at the v bar (more often) or the coil.
I don't recalll any overlapped strings on tapped pins for these are  
folks who got this piano 25+ years ago and seemingly haven't had it  
tuned/looked at since..

Love,
Child
On Jan 11, 2007, at 9:26 AM, David Skolnik wrote:

> Michelle -
> Child, are you saying that you've had this problem on ALL those  
> pianos? If so, what do they share in common, other than you  
> breaking all those strings? Which strings?  Where do they break?   
> Any issue of tapped pins with wire overlapping coil coming off pin?
>
> David Sk
>
>
>
>
>
> At 05:14 PM 1/9/2007, you wrote:
>> Hi Marcel..
>>
>> Hmmm.. no these piano were not Chinese... just your run-of-the-mill
>> Baldwin Hamiltons, Sohmers, Wurlitzers...you know.... studio uprights
>> that haven't been tuned in a kazillion years..nothing like what you
>> had today..
>>
>> Good news that you got this thing tuned up.
>> And yeah- I'll bet you gave your anti-perspirant a chance to proove
>> itself!
>>
>> Cheers!
>> :)
>> Michelle
>>
>> On Jan 9, 2007, at 4:40 PM, Marcel Carey wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Michelle,
>>>
>>> I just did a chinese import this afternoon. The piano had been
>>> delivered
>>> in the crate last may. There were still some kind of paper pattern
>>> stuck
>>> to the bass struts and the paper was touching some bass strings.  
>>> WOW,
>>> what a sound.
>>>
>>> Now I would like to ask you if the string breakage you experience is
>>> with these chinese imports. The reason I ask is that this particular
>>> piano scared me. The first tenor strings had so much angle up  
>>> from the
>>> V-bar that they just didn't want to move. I thought of your post  
>>> and I
>>> had a lot of cranking up before the pitch actually started to
>>> change. I
>>> didn't measure the angle, but it looked like 30 or more degrees.
>>>
>>> I was lucky, nothing broke but the piano was a beast to bring  
>>> back to
>>> pitch and tune. The pins were tight and springy. Not fun but the
>>> pay is
>>> good. But it upsets me that some store send pianos in crates with NO
>>> PREPARATION whatsoever.
>>>
>>> Marcel Carey, RPT
>>> Sherbrooke, QC
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi folks-
>>>>
>>>> Happy New Year!
>>>>
>>>> :D
>>>>
>>>> It happens more often than I'd like (and once is enough to be
>>>> honest) and while I "feel"  that it's not my lovely hammer
>>>> technique ;)  , maybe it's something to do with some sort of
>>>> "string thing"..
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone else run across this?
>>>> (Or maybe a PTG article I have overlooked?)
>>>>
>>>> Upon visiting a fairly new piano and finding it dreadfully
>>>> flat (50 cents or more) , I carefully yet quickly, raise it
>>>> up at least half of what it was. And I do have a (good?)
>>>> habit of initially moving the pin in the flat direction
>>>> before moving it sharp in order to loosen any friction from
>>>> any rust or whatever that may have accumulated. Just a
>>>> *quick* jerk to the left- nothing serious at all.
>>>>
>>>> Now.. having raised the piano up (with a second pass to at
>>>> least get it up to pitch) I start doing a "fine tuning".
>>>>
>>>> it is either at this second pass or my fine tuning where
>>>> strings start to break. In the usual places too- nothing out
>>>> of the ordinary.
>>>>
>>>> (Am I doing "too many tunings" (up to 3  times) to raise this
>>>> completely up? Seems like that wouldn't be an issue,
>>>> especially if it's new(er)? Have I introduced some sort of
>>>> unusual friction/heat or something??
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Now this doesn't happen all of the time, but I am acutely
>>>> aware that it could and I wonder if there's something in my
>>>> technique or my sequence of pitch raising that makes these
>>>> newer strings break. (I could understand some strings
>>>> breaking if the piano was older..)
>>>>
>>>> I know tuners who on the first go, bring the whole piano up
>>>> tp pitch but I've always been a little leary of that. I'm
>>>> wondering if they also have strings break on their second
>>>> pass/ fine tuning..
>>>>
>>>> I fully realize that they (the strings) are now at different
>>>> spots on all of the contact and termination points so I would
>>>> assume that would add to the puzzle. And I'd like to also add
>>>> that it seems that the tork alone on this 1/2 way-to-pitch,
>>>> pitch raised piano feels MUCH higher than it did before (and
>>>> more than "normal") and I chalk that up to the higher tension
>>>> I have just introduced.
>>>>
>>>> I am a jerk tuner.
>>>>
>>>> (Stop laughing  :)
>>>>
>>>> I would be VERY interested in viewing the number of passes
>>>> you folks do to bring a  piano up to pitch and whether or not
>>>> you've experienced this-especially on ones that aren't so old.
>>>>
>>>> Hope this post reads OK- and I look forward to your responses!
>>>>
>>>> :)
>>>> Michelle
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>
>



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