sagging center string

[Ken Jankura]

At 05:33 PM 6/13/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Most of my clients have older (much older) pianos (mostly uprights).  I
>don't have much trouble with the lower or middle section, but that treble
>section often is a real pain.  I use an SAT (God Bless Mr. Sanderson), so I
>am able to get immediate feedback when the pitch slips, and after tuning
>the center string, I go for the treble (right) string, and when it comes in
>tune, the center has slipped, sometimes a lot.  By the time the left string
>is being worked on the center may be even flatter than when I started.  
>
>I start compensating by leaving the center string higher and higher with
>each set, and sometimes this helps, but chasing the pitch of the center
>string down the musical scale is a real pain.
>
>Eventually, I get the strings to go where I want, they even stay in tune
>pretty well, but the time involved is frustrating.  There are times when it
>takes me more time to tune from F4 to C7 than the entire rest of the piano.
>
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might improve my technique in
>this area of the piano.
>
>P.S.  I already do a quick pitch raise if the piano is 6 cents or more away
>from 440; I will even to do the treble section quickly a second or third
>time if it drifts flat.
>
>
>Ed Carwithen
>John Day, OR
>
>
By a quick pitch raise, do you mean with the 33% overshoot available on the
SAT? If so you should be pretty close so that few of the unisons need to be
pulled up very much to get where you want to go. If that is not the issue,
it might be something in your technique that allows the string to slip. I
notice in my own tuning that if I don't use 'firm' test blows in the
treble, I am less likely to get the stability I am after. I
semi-consciously [that's the way I tune anyway :-)] use 'extra firm' test
blows on the center string, and only 'firm' test blows on the outers. I can
tune the bass and mid section quietly if I have to, but not the treble.
Try Ken Burton's book 'Different Strokes" for some good insight into
technique.

Ken Jankura