Tightening coils on sloppy restringing

[Brian Trout]

Hi Wim,

Interesting questions.

I probably lean more in the opposite extreme.  If some of you saw me
stringing, you'd probably say something like, "He sure is slow."  And I have
to admit, I am slow.  But it's becoming an art to me.  It's a challenge to
see just how -Good- I can make the stringing job, and absolutely not a
matter of what I can 'get away with'.  The more pianos I restring, the more
interested I am in seeing just how perfect I can make it.  I try to make the
coils not only straight and tight, but also I try to make the becket come
out of the hole uniformly, and I also try to get the same amount of coil
around each tuning pin, and last but not least, making the pins nice and
level (at an appropriate level above the plate).  I've never been able to
make one perfect, but I would be ashamed of some of the work I've seen a few
others do.

 I would say I'm probably my own worst critic.  If it isn't perfect, it's
not good enough for me.  I try not to be too big a fanatic about it, but
perfection is always my goal.  And hopefully, I move a little closer with
each job experience.

Does any of it really matter?  Perhaps to a limited extent, perhaps not at
all.  To me, most of it is personal pride.  When I'm done with a job, I feel
a real sense of accomplishment when I look at my own work and compare to
another well built piano, and my work is either as good as or superior to
one of the best.  That's my goal.  To do to the best of my ability that
which is set before me.  I was reading the PTG code of ethics just
yesterday, and if I remember correctly, that was part of it.  How far each
of us takes the general principle is an individual thing,... but that's my
two cents.

Interesting discussion.

Thanks,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, Pa.

-----Original Message-----
From: Wimblees@AOL.COM <Wimblees@AOL.COM>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Sunday, May 02, 1999 7:30 PM
Subject: Re: Tightening coils on sloppy restringing


>I am not advocating, or defending a sloppy stringing job, but here's
>something I want to throw out of disucssion.
>
>I was told once that the way a string is coiled around a pin has no effect
on
>the tuning stability of that string. This does NOT include a loose becket,
or
>untight coil. I am talking about wires that cross over each other. Anideas
on
>this?
>
>The other aspect of this post is the coils against the plate. Again, it is
>not a good way to do it, but what is the effect of a coil down on a the
plate?
>
>Wim
>