too much "pounding!"

[Charly Tuner]

Hi all,

Any suggestions as to how to lessen the stress on our "pounding" fingers? I 
use my left index & thumb for loud striking, and I am losing the feeling in 
the tips as they are becoming continually numb!
Also, just how HARD should we have to strike, and how many strikes are 
generally needed? And I am referring basically to those pianos where there 
is no serious rendering problems. There is a Steinway tech on the floor 
where I work, who came over and demonstrated how a perfect unison will not 
stand unless you BANG the key HARD, many times, almost to the point of 
breaking the hammer shank! What's up with that? Is that what we want to do? 
I strike pretty sharply on average a couple or more times, and then move on 
once the unison stays put. An expertly & beautifully tuned piano, ANY piano, 
will go out/flat by continuous playing, especially forte playing, alomg with 
other factors of course.

So, once we get our unisons perfect, after normal striking and pin setting, 
why the heck would you want to continue to POUND,POUND,POUND, AS HARD AS YOU 
CAN, when you will just throw it out again? Doesn't make sense to me. 
Afterall, humidity changes and other climatic and structural factors will 
probably make the piano go out of tune first; NOT the fact that you  nearly 
BROKE the hammer shanks in an effort to make it stand in tune longer. Just 
my thoughts...what are yours?


Terry
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