Muting Pattern

[Michael Spalding]

Hi Corte,

During this past year, I made the same change (from strip muting to unisons
as you go).  I use a split mute, as described by Mitch Kiel on this list
not too long ago.  Tip:  use narrow mutes, 1/4" or less, so they can fit
between the hammer and the damper, or above the hammer, in the top treble
damper section.  Tuning the 3rd string to 2 open strings has been a
challenge, but you can look on it as an opportunity to take your unison
tuning to the next level.  Besides, if your normal routine includes
pounding the piano all over followed by checking and fixing unisons, you
still have a safety net.  The ability to tune unisons well enough to use
them for interval checks seems to be one big thing that separates the
experts from us novices.  This would be a step in the right direction.   Go
for it!

Mike Spalding RPT
 


> [Original Message]
> From: <cswearingen@daigger.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 8/8/2003 8:35:58 AM
> Subject: Muting Pattern
>
>
>
>
>
> Hello List,
>
> Since I started tuning part time about 3 years ago, I have always strip
> muted the entire tenor and treble sections.  I use a Verituner and set the
> center string of each tri-chord, check aurally, and once I'm satisfied, I
> pull in the unisons (always aurally).
>
> I would like to try switching to tuning unisons as I go.  Can someone
> experienced in this tell me their technique in moving the mutes around
> (since strip muting is no longer an option with this method)?
>
> Do you use two mutes, one split mute, etc.  I prefer to only tune one
> string of a unison to another string so I want to try and avoid the
> situation where I'm tuning one string of a tri-chord to the other two open
> strings of the tri-chord.  However, I'm not sure if their is an efficient
> muting pattern for this.
>
> Any suggestions or ideas you could provide would be great.
>
> By the way, thanks with all your suggestions on voicing down my Yamaha U1.
> Here is the procedure I decided to try.
>
> 1.  50/50 alcohol/water solution applied to the hammers
> 2.  Taking a very small layer of felt off the hammers and then polishing
> with 320 grit emery cloth (I reshaped the hammers about 6 months ago so no
> further reshaping needed to be done)
> 3.  Ironed the hammers
>
> This produced the desired rich warm tone I had wanted for the longest
time.
> Next time, I'm going to try the steam method.  Thanks again for your
> advice!
>
> Thanks,
> Corte Swearingen
> Chicago
>
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