test blows

[Joe And Penny Goss]

Hi Don,
I am supprised that you are not having a change in pitch when working the
becket. If you are using the becket tool that is like a hollowed out punch,
just using it will flex the tuning pin enough to change the pitch whithout
really seating the becket. What I use a pair of pump pliers that have a snap
lock to keep them adjusted where they were put <G> When open to the place
that they will close paralel on the pin, one jaw is about a string thickness
longer than the other jaw. Thus one jaw can be placed over the turn of the
becket and the other directly on the tuning pin, then sqweeze. Care should
be taken to not over squeeze as it will cause the beckett to fail. DAMHIK "
A little dab will do yah"
Also some coils need tapping down, especially if they were made by a
nonstringer like myself.
For me the object of all this tapping, squeezing, stretching pounding or
whatever other method we choose to use to stablize the piano is directed at
the wire memory of the string. Once we have reeducated the string the piano
will be as stable as an wood acoustic instrument can be.
JMTs
Joe Goss
imatunr@srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don" <pianotuna@accesscomm.ca>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 2:57 AM
Subject: Re: test blows


> Hi Corte,
>
> Define stable. Would 2 cents change over 30 months fit? Of course this is
> *only* possible if humidity is controlled.
>
> David, of course the client pays (or in the case of tapping on strings
does
> the labor themselves). We are not running a charity. Yes some coils need
to
> be lifted--but I do that with an impact type of coil lifter--so I'm still
> tapping--just upwards.
>
> I'd love to have someone show me how to tighten beckets. So far my efforts
> have produced no change in pitch--which I assume should be there.
Comments?
>
> I believe that a more accurate term would be "settling the pin" rather
than
> "setting the pin". What is the vector of force on the pin from the string?
> If the pin is settled in that direction it can move no farther.
>
> Compression set has been a very common thread recently. If the
> board/bridges have "finished" that process then the instrument will be
more
> stable--but it won't be a piano necessarily any more. There are
exceptions.
>
> At 12:31 AM 8/19/2003 -0600, you wrote:
> >I've heard stories that Franz Mohr used extremely hard test blows when
> >tuning.  Of course, I've also heard that his tunings were rock-solid
> >stable.  There seems to be a correlation here.
> >
> >Any further comments?
> >
> >Corte Swearingen
> >    I'm certainly not going through the following hassle:
> ><<Third step tap at the hitch pin, before and after rear duplex, before
> >bridge pin, on bridge pin, in front of bridge pin, middle of the string
> >length on the bridge, behind sounding length bridge pin, on sounding
length
> >bridge pin, sounding length, and lift strings on tuning pin side of
> >aggraff.>>  Not without charging quite a bit extra, anyhow.
> >    <<The coils had never been tapped and the pitch dropped over 100
cents
> on some notes.>>
> > Yes, but what I find more often are beckets that need squeezing farther
> into the pin.  Sometimes the coils need pulling up as much as tapping
down,
> to get them tightly against each other and square to the pin.
> >    And, rock-solid only lasts until the humidity changes enough to swell
> or relax the soundboard.  What's puzzling is that some older pianos hardly
> drift out of tune at all, even over a period of 5 years.
> >    --David Nereson, RPT
>
> Regards,
> Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
>
> mailto:pianotuna@accesscomm.ca
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>
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