hard pounding

[Bill Ballard]

Richard Moody wrote:
>  It involves the "bumping up and down "
>of the tuning pin Bill Ballard mentions.
>        In a nutshell, if the pin is bumped up and no change  happens, the
>string
>is not rendering.  That means no matter what you do, for that particular
>string, sooner or later a hard blow will dislodge it.  Hopefully it will
>be later depending on what you do.

I'd hate to be left with that kind of uncertainty. It's similar to reading
action resistance by downweight alone, and having no idea what part
friction and mass each play in that reading. You gotta bump (equally, too)
in both directions (won't work in just one direction). Bump it up and
notice the change. Bump it down and notice the change. If the two changes
are equal then the string is equally ready (or equally less willing)t o go
out in both directions. That's a the response of a string and tuning pin
well-relieved of tension differentials and torsion (respectively). Like the
beer commercial says, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Unfortunately, the higher string friction is, the more of a bump is
required. When string friction meets tuning pin friction these bumps (and
there size) actually become part of the problem in tuning stability. When
string friction is higher than tuning friction, all bets are off and your
only consolation is to be able to slug the piano.

Bill Ballard, RPT
New Hampshire Chapter, PTG

"Out here on the food chain, you either
   diet,die, or dine"
 .......folksinger Mark Graham