Hi, I must admit that all of this talk about "seating" strings on bridges bothers me somewhat. There is no question but what this is a necessary thing to do from time to time, and under varying circumstances. On the other hand, I've seen countless pianos with the strings driven halfway to Baltimore - literally half the string diameter imbedded in the cap. Susan's questions speak to these issues. My thoughts: >If, as seems possible, hard blows are enough to cause the strings to ride up >on the bridge pins, and stay there, is it a good idea to reseat them? > Yes, for reasons others have clearly stated. The string must maintain _proper_ contact with the top of the bridge. Also, the more consistency we can maintain in the piano, the less variation there will be. >Would it be better to consider who is going to play the piano next? Sometimes - for most situations, this is not a major issue. >What if >the next performer is heavy handed, and will drive them right back up? Some may. But, if the piano is well maintained, the effect will be minimal, if at all noticable. > Will >a pianist's unseating them trash our unisons at the same time? Usually, while an individual pianist _may_ create this condition, our unisons are much more likely to be trashed by poor hammer technique. Joel's note about changes in a given piano during the course of _very_ heavy use (in this case the Van Cliburn competetion, although, I have noted other instances of similar conditions under similar use) makes this point. >When we do >whole-hearted test blows, do we drive them back up ourselves? I seem to be, in yet again another way, a dinosaur here. I tune _very_ hard. Very hard, indeed. Not everyone needs to, or should, perhaps, do this. Since so much of my work has been in situations where breakage, slipped unisons, etc, have been unacceptable, my own sense of this is that I would much rather have something slip, break, knock, whatever, while I am there, rather than to read about it in the next day's paper. Obviously, this also has to do with my own ego - I hate going out on stage to "fix" what "should" have been right to begin with. (read: "Hi, I'm Horace, and I'm a piano tuner...) > What happens >to the bridge top and pins when we seat -- unseat -- seat, over and over? > My point, exactly. Unless _great_ care is taken, a good deal of damage can be done very quickly. More later. Best to all. Horace Horace Greeley hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much. - Oscar Wilde LiNCS voice: 725-4627 Stanford University fax: 725-9942
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