What to do for sore wrists and arms.

[Thomas Cole]

Vinny,

Probably it would best to seek the advice of a veteran tuner, especially 
one who has overcome physical problems, someone who could comment on 
your technique (or demonstrate her or his). Lacking that, I would say 
(assuming you're a right-hander tuning an upright piano) to face the 
bass end of the piano and position the tuning hammer at 1:00 - 2:00. 
Then using a quasi-impact technique, you can jerk the string up to 
pitch, then settling the pin however you do that. I find that using the 
inertia of my forearm and gravity, it takes very little effort and 
tension does not build up. Also when you turn away from the piano (as 
above), you have a better muscular advantage over facing the piano.

There is a book of tuning hammer techniques called Different Strokes by 
Ken Burton, RPT. Lots of wisdom about every possible way to tune a 
piano. It's available through Randy Potter.

Ultimately, you have to adapt your particular body to the task at hand 
which requires trying different methods and paying attention to your 
body's reaction.

Good luck
Tom Cole


Vinny Samarco wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>I am relatively new in to piano tuning world, but have as much work as I can
>handle right now.
>I find, that after three pianos, I have an extremely sore wrist and arm.
>I'm sure after all these years, you must have built up for such things.
>However I'm interested in know if you can do anything about it?  or can I
>build up to it?  Yesterday, I had three pianos, each with extremely tight
>pins.  About the only thing that seems to help is Adville afterwards, but I
>hate to depend on it.
>
>        Thanks for any thoughts on this.
>
>        Vinny Samarco
>
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