Seating strings

[Michael Gamble]

Hello Ron (and List)
Your statement about false beats is a "must read" for all interested in 
tuning pianos. I concur with all you have said. It all makes profound sense. 
I now eagerly await a "trial by fire". I have therefore put your obiter 
dictum on the List for all to read.
Kind regards
Michael G.(UK)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman@cox.net>
To: "Michael Gamble" <michael@gambles.fsnet.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: Seating strings


>
>> Hello List and Ron who said: (inter alia)
>> Here's the mantra... Strings don't climb bridge pins, and seating
>> neither pins, nor strings cures the cause of false beats. It just
>> does further damage to the cap.
>>  I must confess to tapping strings on the bridge to get rid of false 
>> beats. Most times it works. Rarely it doesn't. There has to be a reason 
>> for that. So.... what is the preferred method of getting rid of those 
>> false beats?
>> Regards
>> Michael G.(UK)
>
> How often do you do it? Every tuning? If you do it on a regular basis with 
> tuning, how long do you suppose that false beat you got rid of stayed 
> gone? Was it a year, a month, a week, a day, or at least long enough for 
> you to get out of the house? The cause typically is loose bridge pins. 
> When touching the side of the speaking side bridge pin of the false string 
> (opposite the string) with a screwdriver stops the beat, that's it. 
> Seating the string often temporarily wedges the pin enough that it doesn't 
> flagpole and cause the beat. Beat goes away. The tuner thinks he's fixed 
> it, but it comes back as the string goes back where it was and the loose 
> pin can again flagpole. The fix is to make the pin solid in the cap at the 
> surface of the cap. CA or epoxy will do that, but it's not a casual field 
> repair. For the most part, the customers don't hear (or at least don't 
> mind) these noises. It's the tuners that are driven nuts by them. I 
> usually just ignore them and press on. At most, and not often, I'll press 
> down on a string just forward of the bridge pin with my thumb nail. I know 
> it doesn't do anything good, but I haven't done any harm, and it sometimes 
> makes a real screamer less bad temporarily. In my opinion, if the venue 
> requires a piano utterly free of false beats, then it warrants a thorough 
> job of repairing the cause, not a band aid seating of strings. The 
> important thing here is that seating strings isn't something that is 
> necessary to get the strings back down on the bridge, because they are 
> already down on the bridge. It's almost always the loose pin that causes 
> the false beat. Strings don't climb bridge pins.
>
> Ron N
>
>