left-handed tuning

[Porritt, David]

Les:

I can't 'splain it, I just do it.  I've tried left handed and though
there are several jobs I do naturally left handed, tuning isn't one of
them.  I really, Really wish I had become ambidextrous as I was learning
but now at my age the attempt is too slow and the result too painful to
pursue that goal.  My hammer technique has changed somewhat over the
years, now mostly driven by the damage to my tuning hand.  The biggest
improvement has come with the purchase of a Fujan tuning lever.  I use
the long handle because it makes tight pins easier to turn and because
there is NO flex in the lever as there is in "normal" tuning levers that
are extended.  Since it is so stiff you feel every movement and makes
your tuning that much better.  So I'm still learning new techniques,
it's just that left handed tuning isn't one of them!

dave

____________________
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Leslie Bartlett
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 10:23 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: RE: left-handed tuning

Uhm, I sure don't see Dave Porritt chiming in anywhere.  Hey DAVE- you
gonna
chime in??????????????????????????????????????    I spent a day with him
when I first couldn't figure out TL 97, and he tunes right handed, 3:00,
straight arm.  Dumbest thing in the whole world I thought.  Then he
would
set his fingers on top of the plate (verticals) and ever so gently lift
the
hammer just a tiny bit with his thumb, and the darned things slipped in
like
they had been glued.  I wish he'd "splain it, cause it worked like a
charm,
and he says there's good data to support that style of tuning.  It sure
worked beautifully for him.  After that, I decided that "what works for
someone works for someone", and I'll never criticize a hammer technique
again.  that was an amazing demonstration to me because it worked so
well
and so consistently.
les bartlett 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 6:25 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: left-handed tuning

Michelle Smith wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for your informative responses!  The reason I 
> started thinking about all of this was because of a piano I never want

> to see again.  (Ha Ha!)  It was a school upright that had been sitting

> in a small practice room forever.  Something had happened with the 
> pinblock and the pins would barely move!  When I tuned left handed, I 
> seemed to have to bring the string really far sharp to get the pin to 
> move even slightly.  One of the strings broke and many others were 
> probably on their way.  When I switched to my right hand, the pins 
> moved a little easier.  My theory is that the point of pressure is 
> different when tuning left handed (upward) as opposed to right handed 
> (downward) and that particular piano just couldn't take it.

What's happening is pin flex - flag poling, and twist. Pulling in the
direction of the string (down, in a vertical), you can move the pin
quite a
ways in the block and barely hear the pitch change. Then you let the
pressure off and it goes sharp. 
Pushing up left handed opposite the direction of the string, the
opposite
happens. There's a hammer position for verticals that, when you're
pulling
in the right direction, the downward pin flex very nearly equals the
twist
you're putting in the pin, and when you let go, they cancel and the
pitch
doesn't change. It's not a magic bullet, it's just another of a hundred
things you notice in tuning, and adapt for as you go.
Ron N

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