string settling

[Isaac OLEG]

We do all kind of manipulations to allow the piano to be used for the
next session, but still under the pianist play, and with time, these
new strings are less stable - unless we massage them really strong
enough , I believe that massaging is adding an unsuspected tension the
force is added in the most efficient way) unfortunately bridge top
don't like that much, so I use a hook for that part and work the
string up.

Best Regards.

Isaac OLEG

Entretien et reparation de pianos.

PianoTech
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> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la
> part de A440A@aol.com
> Envoye : samedi 12 juillet 2003 21:03
> A : pianotech@ptg.org
> Objet : string settling
>
>
> Mike writes:
> <<  To the extent that we can tighten these bends during stringing,
> the initial tunings will be less unstable.  Even in the
> best scenario,
> these bends continue to "improve" for several
> tunings/years, until they
> eventually settle down and are less of a factor than all
> the other things
> which cause pianos to go out of tune. >>
>
> Greetings,
>    I wondered where all the flattness came from in a new string.
>    There are several places where the loss of pitch is measurable.
> Installing a new string on C5 of a Hamburg B, (recording
> studio piano that was to be
> used that day),  I pulled it up 20 cents sharp and left it
> there for the rest of
> the tuning. Then I went back and measured it, finding it to
> have fallen on
> its own to 4 cents sharp.  I lightly tapped the hitch pin
> area and the aliquot
> bends fore and aft and it went just below pitch, (I'm
> guessing it was no more
> than 4 cents flat).  I pulled it up to 8 cents sharp and
> lightly tapped behind
> the distal bridge pin and saw it drop another 3 cents.
> Pulling it up to pitch
> I tapped in front of the proximal bridge pin and it dropped
> another 3 cents.
> Pulling it up to pitch I then gently lifted the string in
> front of the Capo
> bar and it dropped 5 cents.  Pulling it up again I then
> lifted the string
> behind the capo bar and it dropped 3 cents.
>    <sigh>  Pulled it up to 4 cents sharp and tapped front
> and back of the
> string rest behind the capo bar and it fell another 3
> cents. Pulled it up 4 cents
> sharp and massaged the whole length of the string and
> nothing changed.  Ah,
> I thought I had it!
>    Then, on a thought, I took a small pair of vise-grips
> and grabbed the
> coil, (not the becket, which I had flattened upon
> installation).  I applied a fair
> amount of grip to the coil and twisted in the direction of
> the winding and
> the string dropped 15 cents!
>    I then pulled the string 8 cents sharp and beginning at
> the back, went
> through the entire tapping from back to front.  It dropped
> 2 cents.  I twisted
> the coil once more and it dropped another 2-3 cents.  I
> tuned the damn thing and
> go out of there.  No call backs and the next day it was
> only about 1 or two
> cents flat. I pulled it up and it has behaved like all the
> other strings ever
> since.
>    The coil would theoretically have an unlimited amount of
> drop, since the
> friction around it would prevent the string right before
> the becket from ever
> "seeing" the full tension.  I have since put the vise-grips
> on several pianos
> that were 1-2 years old and every time, there is a
> significant drop in pitch.
> I now incorporate this step after the other settling
> tapping has been done.
>   On a sidenote,  the hitch pin coils on bass strings will,
> if given a gentle
> squeeze and wiggle, usually produce a 10-20 cent drop on
> their own, even
> after a year or two, so I go through them after the first
> several chippings and
> before I begin tapping the bends further "downstream".  If
> the wire is going to
> be moving toward the tuning pins that much, I don't want to
> deform it around
> the bridgepins etc. before I relax the hitch pin coils.
> Regards,
> Ed Foote RPT
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>  <A
> HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_ton
> ality.html">
> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
>
> Ed Foote RPT
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/
> www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
>  <A
> HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_ton
> ality.html">
> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
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