More on hearing protection

[Andrew and Rebeca Anderson]

John,
I'm one of this thumper grasped in my fist test-blowing tuners.  I've 
always thought there's got to be a better way but haven't got the 
stability I want without it.  How does it work (mechanically) in 
practice to play and then test?

Andrew

At 08:25 PM 6/8/2006, you wrote:
>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 it's 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 it's slow at first b/c it's 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. I'm 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 hasn't slowed him 
>down.) The positives are that we won't have hearing loss from hard 
>test blows, and body damage is also greatly reduced. I'll 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/cfb62bd4/attachment.html