False-beating & etiquette

[A440A@aol.com]

 Greetings all,
  Pianotek( whoever he/she is) writes;


> Couldn't it just be me, but I've just read at pianotech 288 postings in my
>mailbox, of which 103 were without any technical info [unless you count 'I
>agree/disagree' statements as such].
 >Perhaps these 103 actually should have been subject titled 'Yes, I know
that
>my response/posting really should be privately e-mailed to those concerned
>.but I really don't care enough to spare everyone the time and disk space it
>requires to deal with these postings and would really love everyone to have
>to indulge me as I love to hear myself in public forums...'
<snip>
>It's not my nature to be sarcastic or cynical, but the valuable [potential]
>resource this list provides becomes so diluted/polluted with extraneous junk
>mail that it can feel demoralizing.

       I second the motion;  Lists tend to show a definite development.
 First, there are the hard core "on-topic"  people.  The "signal to noise"
ratio is good.  Others find out about this cool, on-topic list, where there
is no trash, just good info. It is an attractive list to have feeding your
mail.
      They join, they post, they socialize, they carry on private
conversations in the ENTIRE list's mail, back and forth, and gradually the
list becomes so overgrown with off-topic, uninteresting-to-anybody-else
fluff, that it is no longer worth the effort to "glean" the valuable from the
chaff.
IS THIS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO PIANOTECH???
        It sure seems like it is going that way. We have seen busy,
experienced, valuable people leave, simply because there is too much junk for
the info that is there. And the feeble suggestion, "just use the delete
button" is a bunch of bull.  We still have to sort through all this stuff.
     I will once again make the suggestion,  Don't post it to the list unless
you think it is of interest to the whole list,  otherwise,  go private.

       So............On the technical side; In preparation for a major
Beethoven recording project,  I addressed the false beats in the Steinway D.
 There were 14 strings I thought needed to be improved.
 I first took a small, concave-tipped nail punch and seated all the bridge
pins on these notes.  Then there were only 9 strings still false.  I then
went back and lightly tapped all of those nine strings down, (on a vector
between the bridge and bridge pin, i.e. into the "V" formed by the bridge and
pin ). Then there were 4 strings still beating.  I stroked the strings
lightly from end to end,  They mocked me, there were still 4 howlers there.
 I replaced all four of these strings,  and then there were still two that
had the fuzz in their tone.  I lightly kinked the string between the back
bridge pin and the aliquot bars for these two, and then there was one.  I can
live with it,  I just have to tune one of the others in the unison to mask
it, and we are, hopefully ready to go.

Regards,
Ed Foote
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn.
( oh, if you want to argue to need for humor and socializing on the list, at
least couple it with something technical so it isn't a total waste of
bandwidth, or send it privately, PLEASE!!!)