Tuning lever length

[Dean May]

Now here Bruce went to a great deal of trouble to start a new thread with a
proper label on tuning lever length and it has been shanghaied into a
discussion on jerks and smoothies. 

Since I wasn't trained as an apprentice but am mostly self taught, I've had
to develop a technique that worked for me. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten
lots of help along the way from some great people. I did attend a tuning
seminar put on by the Lexington PTG chapter in the mid 80's and I have
gotten input from other tuners I respect over the years. 

I find that my technique is very similar to Jon's below and Terry Farrell's
methods. I like to feel the pin move and if I am impacting it with the
hammer I can't feel it, I have to rely on memory muscle that a certain
impact will produce a given change for a given tightness of pin. Now when
faced with overly tight pins I am sometimes forced to move towards slapping
the pin with my hammer or impacting it. Then I'm a jerk.

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Jon Page
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 7:30 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Tuning lever length

I'm a smooth-pull tuner, applying slight impact only when appropriate.
I feel the torque of the pin and overpull accordingly and make a
diminishing series of + & - motions to set the pin and string with
a final slight + motion to keep the front section of string length
at a minutely higher tension than on the speaking length side
of the counter bearing friction.  A lower tension on this forward
string segment would be more apt to allow this lower tension to
creep across the counter bearing making for a less stable tuning,
a final + lilt (nudging pin torque) braces the string better.

As with moving or lifting a piano, apply force and increase effort
until the desired motion is achieved, don't heave your body into it.

I carry two stationary levers 9.5" & 11.5" and a Hale 10.5" with
interchangeable heads for strut clearance. Which one I'll use
depends on pin torque and clearance issues. For concert work
I prefer the 9.5".
-- 

Regards,

Jon Page