beckets

[Thomas Cole]

JIMRPT@aol.com wrote:

> If coil tightness/neatness makes no difference to tuning stability why do we 
>take so much time when stringing to make all the coils just-so and get the 
>pins at the same relative height with the coils the same relative distance from 
>the plate.???.............
>

I think it comes down to pride in workmanship. It's workmanlike to make 
tight coils of uniform number of turns and height above the plate, which 
likely contributes to pins that have an even feel when tuning. It says 
something about the quality of the whole rebuild if the technician has 
taken the trouble to address these appearance issues. I expect to find 
repairs and adjustments inside of a like nature.

I'm preparing a Yamaha grand which is going to be sold and has the 
liability of having had many strings replaced by one if its former 
players. The bass strings sound terrible, especially the notes with the 
universal replacements, so all the wound strings will be replaced. But 
the treble section, with its motley crew of high and low pins and 
non-uniform coils, sounds passable and holds a tuning well. The owners 
are hesitant to replace perfectly good-sounding strings, or even to 
dress up the coils. My main argument was: "What is a piano technician 
who comes to inspect it going to think?"

In general, when I'm stringing or doing repairs, I always pay close 
attention to tight helixes, uniform height, etc.  But if I find sloppy 
coils in a piano I'm tuning, I normally don't dress the coils (the above 
piano being a notable exception).

>p.s.
> Since the stability thingee has been addressed and we are into the 'why' 
>phase..... I suppose my question here would be 'why' loose coils are acceptable 
>at all and this without regard to the stability question.
>

It's not acceptable within this community of piano technicians and 
manufacturers because it doesn't meet our standards of excellence. But I 
can accept it, to a degree, that someone before me has done a 
less-than-technicianly repair job, which I can let stand because I'm 
there to tune the piano and I'm not there to judge and redo previous 
repairs, unless they are so bad as to affect the quality of my work. 
Sloppy coils do not an unstable tuning make in most cases, IMNSHO.

Tom Cole