beckets

[Ron Nossaman]

>I meant manufacturers when I said stop.

I know. I thought someone might be interested in reasons for doing so in 
field repairs.


>  Maybe I'm not
>paying enough attention but as far as I know I've never had a becket creep
>out.  If they're tight I don't think it is a problem.

I think it's more the size of the hole in relation to that of the wire, and 
the sharpness of the hole edge in relation to the sharpness of the bend. 
This doesn't happen down in the bass where you can barely get the wire in 
the hole. It tends to happen with about #15 and smaller wire. Even at that, 
creeping becket doesn't happen often enough to worry about. I still like 
the control and evidence of having been there, so I continue with the clear 
through and bend becket for repairs.


>How many pianos have
>you tuned that 6 months or a year later barely need a touch up?  Lots of the
>better ones I'll bet. That's been my experience.  Couldn't happen if beckets
>not pushed through and bent over were a problem.  Just my opinion.

This isn't done for tuning stability in the first place. My understanding 
is that it's a manufacturing expedient allowing pre-cut and machine coiled 
string sets to be installed quickly and uniformly without cutting and 
winding slowing the stringer down.

Incidentally, I've tuned a lot of pianos through the years and never had 
one that was "unstable" because the beckets weren't tight and the coils 
weren't tapped. While a field process of tightening and tapping will 
obviously drop the pitch considerably in a lot of cases, not doing so won't 
typically have a detrimental effect on tuning stability in an existing piano.

Ron N