Rubbings and patterns

[John Delacour]

[was: Re: Chipping )was: String rollers) }

At 20:31 05/10/01 -0500, Ron Nossaman wrote:


>Lay a piece of paper on the strings, covering agraffes, bridge pins, hitch
>pins, etc. Sand through the paper at the hitch pins, so it drops down
>around them. Then sand through the paper at the bridge pins so it drops
>down around them.

Ron, here's the reason I ask people to reverse this sequence:

The bridge pins on most pianos are filed flat and will make a well-defined 
hole in the paper.  When the paper is pressed home it will be flat and 
secure.  The hitchpins are rarely flattened off, often roughly painted and 
surrounded with the gunge of ages; it is almost impossible to achieve neat 
round holes and have the paper lying flat on the string plate.

Besides this, the stringmaker is looking for _point_ to represent the 
hitchpin rather than an ill defined hole irregularly torn in the 
paper.  This point is where the point of the marking awl will be driven 
through the paper in the bench to represent the hitchpin.  In nine case out 
of ten, this little hole is within less than a millimetre of the actual 
termination of the string.  Presuming that the string plate was properly 
drilled for the hitchpins, any small deviations in the line or curve of the 
holes, due to irregular hammering-over of the pins (not high class pianos) 
can be evened out.  The string patterns are used to check the deviation, 
since when the pattern is pulled over the rubbing, secured by the awl, it 
is possible to see how the zig-zag at the bridge line up with the bridge 
pins that caused it.  Thus although the holes may be a tiny distance remote 
from the real eye-end, the stringmaker knows what that distance is and will 
allow for it in the marking out.

About 20% of my customers persist in anchoring at the hitchpins and by and 
large they are the least tidy workmen ordering strings for the least 
desirable pianos.  This is no reflection on you, because it used to be 
general practice and it was I that had to suggest to customers to change 
their method and explain why, though the rubbings I got from Steniway and 
Blüthner were always done my way even in the beginning.

I'm sure you'll see the sense in all this.  The aim throughout is to get as 
perfect a copper line as possible and the chances of that are reduced if 
the rubbing is not clear-cut.

By the way, the best thing to use to get a rubbing of the ends of the 
windings, the agraffes etc. is a flat lump of lead such as the clip-on key 
leads used for levelling keys.  Wax crayon or heel-ball is a nuisance 
because it gets on the awl and stops it sticking in the bench firmly.

JD



JD