Tightening coils on sloppy restringing

[Jon Page]

At 08:35 PM 5/2/99 -0400, you wrote:
>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,

Why do you want the wire to stick out of the pin? It makes a sloppy looking
job,
& serves no purpose. If you really wanted to be fastidious, you would make
certain the wire goes the whole length of the hole
but does not extrude.    Too short of a becket in the hole can cause slippage
but a neater job is derived by nothing sticking out.

>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.

Make a measuring gauge for cutting the wire to the apporpriate length.
I have a jpg and info sheet on how to make the Becket Tool.  :-)   This
gadget produces consistant beckets.

Jon Page
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> 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
>>
>  

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
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