test blows

[Don]

Hi Corte,

Add a back cover. Your piano will be much more stable. At the moment your
humidity control system is working optimally, but the humidity loss thru
the back is causing the board to move excessively. The back cover simply
allows the humidity on both sides of the board to be the same.

If you do careful measurements of the smeared unisons in the humid part of
the year vs the dry part of the year the results may be that the bass side
string is *sharp* during one season, and *flat* during the other. If so
your tuning technique is not at fault. If on the other hand the results are
identical, then what ever you are doing is not quite stable. There is more
than one approach that will work, but do be consistent.


At 07:26 AM 8/20/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Don,
>
>No, there is no back cover on the upright and while the temperature is
>somewhat constant in the house, the humidity can vary quite a bit.  This is
>probably the reason for a small movement of 2-3 cents over a few months.
>It's never more than that (even during seasonal changes) so I know the
>Dampp-Chaser is doing a fairly decent job.
>
>Yes, I've heard from others that with an impact hammer, one should try and
>impact the pin at the exact same time the key is struck.  Dean Reyburn,
>also an impact tuner, told me once that he prefers to impact the pin above
>and below the target, moving in closer and closer until the final impact is
>"up" to the target.  This, he believes, adds more stability since it
>ensures that the non-speaking length is at a slightly higher tension than
>the speaking length.  I've never quite understood this since it seems to me
>that if the non-speaking length is at a higher tension than the
>non-speaking length, a hard-blow by the pianist would have a tendency to
>make the string go a bit sharp.  Another impact tuner I have spoken with
>prefer to bring the note to pitch from above as opposed to below.  Once
>thing I know is that even though these impact tuners I have described have
>different techniques, they both create very beautiful and stable tunings.
>So, I suppose the technique isn't as important as the consistency of
>setting/settling the string/pin.
>

Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.

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