Hi John, I don't know. I'm not old yet. ;) I'm still a teen ager, age 40. going on 41.:) LOL Do you place the shank just above and below the bridge pin as one does to level the string? Does the hammer shank need to have a point or can I take an old hammer from an action and take the top off and use the flat smooth end of the shank? Thanks again. Marshall -------------- Original message -------------- From: "John M. Formsma" <john at formsmapiano.com> Marshall, Yes, so to speak. Gentle pressure, not a jab. You just want to see if the string moves (i.e., pitch changes), which is the purpose of a hard blow. However, the shank can deflect more than a test blow will; hence the effectiveness. Not that you need to be moving the string very far, but its more effective than smacking the heck out of the string without the damaging and/or painful effects of a hard blow. In other words, youll get more deflection with the shank than a hard blow. Funny on me. After I posted this, I started thinking, hmmm seems like this has come up on the list before. So I did a search, and found that yours truly mentioned this back in November 1999. Aaggh! How embarrasking! I remember the class now my first convention, Steinway all-day, John Patton session. Im only 35, so I cant claim this as a senior moment. Is this what its like when you get old??? ;-) John Formsma From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of pianotune05 Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 9:19 PM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: More on hearing protection Hi John, What do you mean by deflect the string? What do you actually do to the string. I'm trying to visualize this. Are we poking the string with a hammer shank? Marshall ----- Original Message ----- From: John M. Formsma To: 'Pianotech List' Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 8:25 PM Subject: RE: More on hearing protection Geoff, I just learned a new thing to allow one to tune a piano at pianissimo levels. *(Courtesy of Leonard Gustafson, RPT, of the Memphis PTG chapter, who picked it up from a Steinway tech doing a technical at one of our chapter meetings.) Anyway, you use a vertical hammer shank (or something similar) to slightly deflect the string after its tuned. The idea is that a hard test blow will show any string movement (from deflection by the hammer). A deflection by a hammer shank will also do this, but at a greater level than the severest test blow ever could. I used this yesterday on the four pianos I tuned (2 verts & 2 grands), and it worked very well, although its slow at first b/c its a new skill. I gave one string ten whacks as hard as I could, and nothing moved in the slightest. I also did a few hard blows in various sections to ensure that it works everywhere. Im very glad to know of this as my playing/test blow elbow has been sore lately. The only downside I can see is that it might take a bit longer at first. (Leonard tunes in 45min to 1 hour, so it hasnt slowed him down.) The positives are that we wont have hearing loss from hard test blows, and body damage is also greatly reduced. Ill gladly trade test blows for a few more years of hearing and less pain. John Formsma From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Geoff Sykes Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 2:00 AM To: Pianotech at Ptg. Org Subject: More on hearing protection With the "Noise-Induced Hearing Loss, Part 2" article in the Q&A section of The Journal, I'd like to hear from some fellow tech's who have tried the Zem earplugs, by Sensgard. They're ugly, but the technology is such a different approach than just a simple "plug" that perhaps they could be very useful. I have been using 32db foam Hearos, but I find that while the foam is comfortable I get a lot of attenuation variation from one set to the next, and they're not that flat in response. I also have a pair of Etymotic High Fidelity Earplugs, (identical to the Hearos High Fidelity Ear Filters), which work great. My only complaints are that they're not that long term comfortable and that since the frequency response is much flatter, the attenuation, (rated at 20db), is perhaps a little too much. Zem claims 32db reduction. -- Geoff Sykes -- Assoc. Los Angeles -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060609/cb23b8ac/attachment.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC