Pitchlock

[Andrew & Rebeca Anderson]

The pitch-lock devise is a 'staple' for lack of a better description that 
grips two adjacent strings and couples their harmonic motion.  This 
coupling does come at a price.  The highest partials & noise is 
muted.  That is why you only couple the two worst strings of a noisy three 
string unison.  You couple out the out-of-phase noises and keep one loose 
for "life" in the sound.
Bass strings lose a lot of their "airiness" when coupled.  Balanced against 
very noisy strings in, say, a chinese piano this may be a good choice.  It 
is not something I'd consider first in a performance venue instrument.  But 
to tame a noisy customer piano that is hard to tune and doesn't respond to 
termination work, why not?
The device's inventor was clear that this solution is not for all pianos 
and for all situations.  Try out and use judiciously.  I can think of a 
Pramberger upright that will get these on some noisy bass strings, also a 
Yamaha C7 with several screaming front duplexes (yes the capo should be 
re-milled, try getting that through a committee).   You can use these to 
couple all three duplexes and then tune them to a desired partial by 
sliding them to or away from the center of the duplex.  Quite cool actually.

Andrew

At 02:05 PM 6/20/2005, you wrote:
>Hello List and Paul C.
>For those able to attend that class this must have been a day of 
>Revelations. (Not religion!) But for those unable to attend I wonder what 
>a "Pitchlock" is? Is it something like the "Wolf Arrester" I have on my 
>'cello "C" string?
>Regards
>Michael G.(UK)
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:tune4@earthlink.net>Paul Chick (Earthlink)
>To: <mailto:pianotech@ptg.org>'Pianotech'
>Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 2:09 PM
>Subject: RE: Pitchlock
>
>
>Subject: Pitchlock
>
>Has anyone had experience with the pitchlock devices.  It sounds like 
>something that would help with some wild bass strings, and maybe even some 
>false beating treble strings.  However the startup cost is pretty 
>hefty.  Not bad if it does what it says, but I thought I might inquire 
>from the list first.
>Any thoughts??
>
>Ed Carwithen
>John Day, OR
>
>Ed
>The class on Pitchlock at the K C Institute demonstrated their 
>use.  Attendees listened to the "before" and the "after" in the speaking 
>lengths, front and rear duplex.  They work as claimed.
>
>Paul C