Flag-poling: a way of life, or...?

[Farrell]

Hi Tom. Have you read the book "Diffenent Strokes: Hammer Techniques for
Piano Technicians" by Ken Burton, RPT? It is available from Randy Potter. It
is 120 pages of "different ways to wiggle a tuning lever". It's been a while
since I went through it, otherwise I would quote some sort of wisdom from
it. If you have not looked at it, it is a very good resource. It really gets
you thinking.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: <Tvak@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: Flag-poling: a way of life, or...?


>
> In a message dated 11/30/01 6:56:23 AM, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
>
> << I think you guys are talking about two different things: "playing the
slot
>
> machine", is to be minimized, that is, bending the pin up and down, or
>
> flag-poling - >>
>
> Actually, that's exactly what I'm referring to.  I bend the pin up.  I
bend
> the pin down.  Actually I kind of relax the pin back into it's home.  But
I
> do it.  I was taught it.  Now, I don't brutalize the pin, even the word
bend
> might be a bit strong, but there is a lift and a relaxation to it.  Didn't
> you mention you do something of this sort in a previous post?
>
> What I feel it does is equalize the string tension on both sides of the
> pressure bar.  Lift the pin and the string goes sharper than it ought to
> based on how far the pin moved (i.e., not much).  Why?  Because the string
> has rushed under the pressure bar.  Why?  Because there was more tension
on
> the pin side of the string than on the speaking side.  Relax the pin back
> down and the pitch goes back to where you want it to be, the pin is
sitting
> comfortably in the cradle and your string will stay on pitch.  You
definitely
> have to leave the pin at the midway point (between the high side of the
pin
> and the low) where the pin is comfortable and will not want to move.
Force
> the pin down and it will want to come back up later.  Leave it too high
and
> it will want to drop back down.  Same with the string tension.  You have
to
> pull just enough string under the tension bar so that the tension really
IS
> equal on both sides when you relax the pin back down.  (Boy, that's hard
to
> put in words.)
>
> Anyway, that's what I do, and it seems to work for me.  Since I haven't
found
> this technique in textbooks and yet I've seen others do it too, I just
> wondered if it was; A) a universal approach, B) after thinking about it
> others might realize they do it too, or C) there are a few crazies out
there
> and I'm one of them.  (I think I can rule out A, B is up for grabs, and
there
> was never any doubt about C.)
>
> Tom Sivak
>