Joe, Thank you very much for your reply. This procedure seems like an excellent idea. When I first opened the front panel, tilting the action was the last thing on my mind! The Papps mute came in quite handy, however. In the high undampened section, it was easy to tune. In the low bass and the first, oh, 10-15 notes or so of the tenor section it was fine. The hardest part was from about C4 to the undampened treble notes. In the middle, it seemed like I was playing one of those kids games where you throw all the sticks in a pile and you try and pick one up without moving any of the other sticks. :-) I took a look at your "Repair labor guide" and I noticed you had an extra hour to tune birdcage actions. It took me about 2:30-2:45. Now that I know they're going to take a little bit longer, I don't feel quite so bad. Since I'm 3/4 Scots-Irish, I have a genetic predisposition towards getting the Brits "really honked off", so I guess I'm just going to have to keep calling it a birdcage! :-) Thanks again, Rob McCall Murrieta, CA On Sep 09, 2009, at 07:53 , Joseph Garrett wrote: > Rob, > Please refer to these pianos as Over dampers. The Brits get real > honked off if we call them "Bird-Cage"pianos.<G> > What you have run into is an Over Strung, Over Damper Piano!<G> Most > of the German versions of these pianos are over strung. IMO, this > makes them a much better instrument and a bit more challenging to > mute. The procedure I have used for many years is as follows: > Remove the key cover, as well as the music desk. This allows the > tech to remove the action, which is necessary to the proper muting > of the piano(s). On this particular one, a strip mute Above the > dampers in the bass and tenor, (just past the 'break') is > appropriate. On most flat strung overdamper pianos, one needs to > strip mute the entire piano, below the hammers and above the butt > flanges, (avoiding possible interference from the strip). I usually > use two muting stips. It is necessary to remember where you cannot > strip and where the use of a rubber mute is needed. I use the rubber > mute with the wire attached, in the tenor area, above the damper > tray. I use the Papps Mute for all other muting in the piano. It was > designed for these pianos and is the most efficient mute of all!!!<G> > Usually the strip mutes (2), will go most of the way up to the top > treble, but fall several notes shy. This area is easily accessed > with the Papps Mute. The Papp's Mute will produce a "click" on the > attack sound. This sound is very much like the sound of a loose > hammer.<G> One needs to learn to ignore this!!!<G> I tune the piano > in a typical, start at the temperament, tune down the bass, then > tune the unisons up to A3 fashion. All you need to do that is tune > all the singles and then tip the action forward and reach over it > and remove the strip UP TO A3. This area can be remuted with the > rubber mute above the dampers, as there is still some speaking > length of the strings accessable. > Once this is accomplished, then tune all the way up to A7 or C8, > whichever the piano has. At that point I pull the action out, again, > and pull the mute strip every other one. Then tune down to A3. At > that point I tip the action forward and pull all of the strips out > and tune all the way back up to where the last two of three strings > was tuned. (This all sounds more complicated than it is! Not to > worry, it's quite simple once you get used to this system.<G>) > I hope this helps many of you who "FEAR" the dreaded "Bird-Cage"!!! > <G> They are not complicated and can be really enjoyed for their > unique sound > BTW, DO NOT TRY TO MAKE AN OVERDAMPER PIANO "DAMP LIKE A MODERN > PIANO"!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!???! > Best Regards to all, > Joe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090910/a839d6de/attachment-0001.htm>
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