Chipping )was: String rollers)

[John Musselwhite]

At 06:15 PM 10/5/01 -0400, Terry wrote:

>Thanks for the info John. I have a couple questions on some of your points.
>
>"First, I put a little tension on it by lining up the beckets so they're as
>neat as possible."
>
>Let me see if I am understanding you correctly. The piano has just been
>strung by the rebuilder, but strings left at real low tension. Of course
>he/she cut wire accurately so that beckets would line up, but you are just
>making any small adjustments by turning the pins to align beckets.???

That's right. One these pianos they are generally pretty good when I see it 
at low tension so I just try to keep them as neat as I can while I'm 
"chipping up", as the Brits are wont to say. If there are some that won't 
line up that needs to be attended to, but that's done with the other 
"maintenance" items after getting it near pitch.


>"......make sure it still matches the original rubbing......"
>
>Several posts have mentioned string "rubbings" what are these? A recent post
>talked of rubbings for bass strings. I have made measurements, and what I
>think is appropriately called a scale stick to reposition strings. But what
>is a rubbing?

This is probably in the archives somewhere, but it's much the same as doing 
a rubbing for bass strings. Reblitz describes a version on page 249 of the 
second edition of Piano Servicing, Tuning and Rebuilding. Assuming the 
original stringing was good and you aren't just reproducing mistakes, use a 
rubber mallet (actually a small ball peen hammer with a rubber "crutch tip" 
on it) in the upper sections of treble strings where there are no agraffes 
is to tap a piece of heavy wrapping paper onto the bridge pins for a solid 
reference and then fold the other end of the paper as close to the V-Bar as 
possible so the string lengths can be measured with some accuracy away from 
the piano. Near the V-Bar I'll rub the paper on the strings with a pencil 
or soft graphite stick if one's handy to make a "rubbing" as if I were 
doing a rubbing of a coin or brass piece to see the pattern. When 
re-installing strings (remembering to dress the V-bar first!) press the 
paper back on the pins and cut the paper pattern at the marks. Then tap the 
strings to where they match the graphite. Assuming that the hammer 
positions remain the same, the strings will then match the original 
positions fairly closely.

I hope that explains it for you. Many thanks to Al Jeschke for teaching me 
this!

                 John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
mailto:john@musselwhite.com    http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom