Tuning Baldwin L

[Joel Rappaport]

Biul@aol.com wrote:
>
> I tune several Baldwin grands - model L  and they all have a tick/click at
> every
> agraff as you begin to move the tuning pin. This tick/click sometimes can be
> heard and sometimes can only be felt.

Bill, I would be interested to know if these are new pianos or pretty
old ones?  Maybe someone from Baldwin can advise us if they had a run of
bad agraffes at a particular time.  I have experienced this in concert
instruments (other than Baldwin) that get a _lot_ of tuning and the
agraffe gets flattened out inside the hole.  We replace the agraffes at
the first opportunity.

> The string goes quite sharp as you flex the pin and hear the tick ( usually
> this brings the string up to almost the correct pitch)

Is there also a resistance of the string to move across the stringing
felt between agraffe and tuning pin.  Can you sense that too?

> I also should add that my preferred method of tuning is to set the pins with
> tuning lever technique rather than using a hard blow. When I initially flex
> the pin toward the sharp side and hear the quick raise in pitch after the
> tick/click, I flex the pin the opposite way to see if the pitch stays sharp
> or drops past the correct point. If it drops then I turn the pin a notch to
> bring the string up to enough sharp so I can settle it down to the right
> spot.
>
I really like your technique and sounds like you have it down.  Are the
tuning pins extremely tight in these pianos, also?  You didn't mention
anything about that.

Joel Rappaport
Round Rock, Texas