Muting

Mark Dierauf pianotech@nhpianos.com
Sun, 3 Oct 2004 21:30:20 -0400


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Matthew -
 
I generally use two felt mute strips on verticals - one for the tenor
and another for the treble. The treble strip tapers from about 9/16" to
about 7/16". I carry a small piece of wood, about 8" long by 3" wide by
1/8" thick that I use to push the treble strip below the dampers. If the
dampers lift relatively high off the strings then I am able to push the
strip into position without tilting the action back. I start inserting
this strip from C 88 which usually leaves a "tail" protruding from the
break in the hammers that I can reach with my fingers and pull out from
the bass side one note at a time until I reach the last damper. At that
point I reach down with the handle of a wire mute and gently pull the
tail under the dampers toward the treble so that I can continue tuning
by pulling on the tail from the treble side of the dampers until I reach
the top of the piano. 
 While I'm at it I'll mention that I also mute the wound strings all at
once before I start tuning. I do this by inserting rubber mutes (without
wire handles) in between every other unison of the bichords. Most bass
tuning pins are arranged such that I can tune the bottom pin of the
highest bass unison, then the top tuning pin of the next unison down,
repeating this pattern until I reach the monochords. Once I reach the
bottom I remove ALL of the rubber mutes and (starting at the top of the
bass) then simply reverse the tuning pattern for the bichords. In this
way I don't have to take my hand off the tuning hammer to remove the
mutes on at a time. A 26 bass piano will require about 8 rubber mute to
do this.
 
- Mark
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Todd [mailto:pianotech88@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 8:32 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Muting
 
I hope you guys don't mind my elementary questions.
 
When I strip mute a vertical, I have been practicing pushing the felt
down behind the dampers.  Is that bad for my practice?  Since I loose my
damping effect, everything I play "bleeds" together, so I don't know if
that is a hindrance to me hearing beats and doing my tests correctly.
What do you all think?
 
Matthew
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