sagging center string

[Richard Brekne]

Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 6/14/99 12:48:04 AM !!!First Boot!!!, musicman@eoni.com
> writes:
>
> << 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.
>  (snip)
>   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.
>
> I strip mute the whole piano, and tune only the middle string the first time
> through. I will then mute only every other note, and tune the open strings.
> After doing those unisons, I check, and correct, notes by playing octaves,
> intervals, etc., from the middle up. And finally, I mute the outside strings
> that are in tune, and tune the other strings. This procedure gives me greater
> stability in the upper sections of the piano. Try it and see if it will speed
> up your tuning.
>
> Willem Blees RPT

You might use Willem Blees approach as a way of finding what the cause of the
"slippage" of the center string in tri-unisions. Tune the whole treble section
this way, and then go back and see if you have the same slippage as you note
above. If so, you probably need to work on your tuning hammer technic. If you are
in the neighborhood of your freindly neighborhood RPT, give him/her a call and
see what they have to say.

Richard Brekne
ICPTG