Mother goose string leveler

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

At 11:24 PM 9/13/2005 -0600, you wrote:
>Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:
>
>>  To all level headed tech's
>>  I have been using Joe's slick little tool for a while now & It has 
>> taken the archaic out of the mundane job of string leveling. It tells an 
>> accurate story right off the git go. However it's wise to see if 
>> the  keybed/piano are truly level first & if not get them into 
>> compliance. I use a long aluminum  bubble level when in shop. In the 
>> field a put the gauge on the stretcher or keybed as quick references.
>
>    But even if the stretcher and keybed are level, isn't it possible that 
> in some pianos, the whole plate could be mounted in the piano with a 
> slight tilt, depending on how they determined its correct placement 
> relative to the bridge for proper downbearing?   Maybe this would happen 
> only in cheaper pianos -- I don't know, having never checked.  But the 
> main thing is that the plane of the strings in each agraffe has to be 
> parallel to the crowns of the hammers, and if the plate has any tilt to 
> it, you'd end up pulling a left unison string up and pushing a right one 
> down, or vice versa.  --David Nereson, RPT



Doesn't have to be a "cheap" piano.  Many of the $&$ grands I have here 
have sections(usually tenor) where the string height is decidedly different 
from side to side.

If the individual strings and the tops of the hammers are level according 
to the bubble, but the string plane is slanted you will have the effect of 
a very gentle staircase in both the strings and hammers.  In the best of 
all possible worlds, the keybed, string plane, plate, stretcher and 
hammerline would all be level.  That ain't my world...

I think the best result will be to have the unison string line, the 
individual (and collective) hammer strike surface and the unacorda shift 
plane (i.e.keybed) all parallel.

My 2¢.







Conrad Hoffsommer - Keyboard Technician
Luther College, 700 College Dr., Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
1-(563)-387-1204 // Fax 1-(563)-387-1076

- Right now, I'm hoping to live until my age matches my golf score,
- Until then, I'll have to be content to have my IQ match my handicap.