Soft blows

Dean May deanmay@pianorebuilders.com
Wed, 27 Oct 2004 08:31:59 -0500


>>In my world, where the
string may have been over 20 cents in either direction between the last
tuning and now (regardless of where it is now), if it isn't hit firmly at
least once, it isn't trustworthy, no matter how expert the tuner thinks his
hammer technique is, because the change doesn't necessarily come from this
side of the bridge. You don't know where it's been.



Since I started using RCT I noticed this. Oftentimes if I hit an upper
treble with a couple of hard blows I can see pitch drop 5 to 10 cents before
I even touch the hammer. On those pianos usually the pin moves quite a bit
before the pitch changes. I know no other way than hard test blows to
stabilize those strings. Whack the daylights out of it until the pitch
stabilizes. If it doesn't sound good with a soft blow, tune some more. I
thought we were supposed to make it sound good whether hit with a hard blow
or a soft blow.


Dean
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802




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