[pianotech] Test Blows

[John Formsma]

Well, Paul. I thought I had indirectly made that distinction. <G> But
yes, I use light to medium blows as I'm tuning, then a firm blow for
testing.

It's a good idea to let your arm and hand tell you when you're hitting
too hard. We struggle to remember that a pianist cannot use more force
in playing than we do in our test blows. They can make that soundboard
vibrate like crazy, and that might shake some things loose. But if we
have done a good tuning (and not tried to make too large of a pitch
correction during the tuning), things will be fine.

My personal opinion is that stability is more about knowing how to
move the tuning lever than whacking the heck out of the string. There
are not an infinite number of ways to leave a tuning pin and string.
It's all about finding the one spot where they are most stable.

--
JF

On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 1:18 AM, <PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com> wrote:
> John:
>
> Would it be sensible to make a distinction between "tuning" touch, and
> "stabilizing" or "test" blows or touch? When I'm tuning, I use a relatively
> light or medium touch to hear what I want, then give the key a harder
> (stabilizing) blow with a bit of sustain. I may do that twice or three times
> on each note. If the note stays where I want it to, or if it actually drops
> down that whisker of frequency i want in order to create the interval or
> unison, then I'm doubly gratified. The quiet touch tuning works especially
> well in the treble, as does setting the string with a short series of
> stabilizing blows.
>
> Paul
>