has anyone ever tried this?

[Michael Magness]

On Nov 8, 2007 7:35 AM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:
>
> > Good info....thanks.
> >
> > Brian P. Doepke, (dep-kee)
>
> Sure. I spent a whole lot of hours over the years trying to
> find information on long term creep, or stretch, of steel
> under moderate load at room temperature, and that's all I've
> found. Apparently, it's so inconsequential as to be not worth
> mention in the references.
> Ron N
>
The "stabilization of a new piano is possible to some extent,
referring back to an earlier post of mine (that I would rather
forget)regarding seating of strings, which I am not bringing up again
or advocating at this time. I mentioned a friend and mentor of mine
had seen film of the stringing department at a Japanese factory. In
that film they carefully, using a brass drift and small hammer "set"
all of the bends at hitch and bridge pulled the wire up at the
agraffes or capo set the coils with coil setters. He being a rebuilder
adopted this practice and found he had less "chipping" to do and the
pianos stabilized faster.

I have been on the receiving end of this Japanese manufacturing
treatment. When I first began tuning for a Kawai dealer over 25 years
ago the entire line was made in Hamamatsu, Japan. The pianos would
arrive boxed, on a skid wrapped in a heavy plastic wrap, no not
wrapped, sealed and when opened and removed from the skid and the
action was untied  the piano would be in tune with itself, usually
about 25c sharp! It wasn't perfectly in tune, there were rough unisons
here and there but for the most part it was, decently, by octaves, in
tune. Within a week to ten days it would go out of tune depending on
time of year, summer/fall took a little longer. These were verticals
for the most part with the occasional grand.
My belief was that all of the pianos strung there received the
treatment described above and after the chipping and rough tuning were
fine tuned that 25c sharp to allow for stretch while they were
warehoused. They were then sealed in the plastic which also sealed the
humid air of the Japanese islands in with the piano allowing it to
remain sharp until opened.
I would "floor tune" them until sold and found that although they
needed the requisete 3 or 4 tunings in the first year it wasn't nearly
as much as the american brands I had been used to. When I returned to
tune them after 3 months they weren't all THAT out of tune compared to
Baldwins, Wurlies, Kimballs etc.

Mike
-- 
Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking
both directions anyway.
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com