Greetings all,
Some thoughts on this level discussion.
1) I have seen numerous hi-end grands with the agraffes drilled on an
sideways slant. Sometimes, in whole sections. The hammers can be filed to
match, even keeping some sanity with the una corda. Your let-off will differ
on una corda, but tonally you can keep things similar. Raising the lower two
strings helps minimize this.
2) curled wire doesn't explain it for me. I used to use the little reels,
with the metal feeder attachments. These I set to straighten the wire on the
way out, and they did, however, These stringings needed as much leveling as
others.
3) I think uprights have less trouble because the strings often rest on a bar,
either formed then machined in the casting, or a drawn piece, which can be
more consistant than a hole in the end of three operations, all of which have
to be indexed very closely to create three level holes in the piano.
4) out of level strings create phase problems, so tuning and tone are both
severely affected, and string level is not final until the entire strings'
points of bend have resolved. This means that leveling is needed a lot in the
first two years of a pianos life.
5) I bend strings as close to the agraffe as possible
regards,
Ed Foote
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