Frank, I know all of that! Thanks for the input, but the owner wants the instrument as it was intended by Sabatihl, (even tho I know that it's not a good design). I'm just making it so that it won't self-destruct again. Am I making it beefier were needed? You betcha! Will it REALLY sound like a delicate little, (mamby pamby), harpsichord? NOPE! Wasn't designed like that to begin with.<G> I'm making it prettier as well. All I need is a number for the tuning pin torque....nothing else...except, maybe some sympathy for taking on the job in the first place.<G> (checking my sanity is out of the question, as that's been an issue for many years!<G>) Regards, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon) Captain, Tool Police Squares R I > [Original Message] > From: George F Emerson <pianoguru at cox.net> > To: <joegarrett at earthlink.net>; <pianotech at ptg.org> > Date: 9/16/10 12:06:16 PM > Subject: Re: [pianotech] Harpsichord Tuning Pin Torque? > > > ...... It seems, everything on a harpsichord is 'by feel' > > or 'because that's the way it has been done', with little or no R & D. Why > > is that? > > In early writing about tuning methods for harpsichords, the instruction for > a pitch standard was: Pull the tension up until you think it might break, > then back off a little. That's your pitch standard! Bare in mind that this > was long before the time of Hertz. They didn't even have a unit of measure > to quantify pitch. > > In the early 20th c., the harpsichord had all but disappeared from use, > until Wanda Landowska revitalized interest in the instrument. When > craftsmen took up the task of building such instruments, it was with the > attitude that we have learned SO much from piano building over the past > century or so, surely we can do a better job of this than they did hundreds > of years ago. So, they build harpsichords like Sherman tanks. They didn't > look much like harpsichords, and they certainly didn't sound much like > harpsichords. Don't fall into that trap. Don't try to beef-it-up. Think > of it as a guitar with a keyboard. You may already be blocked into a > certain amount of that with a Sabatihl instrument, but you have the > opportunity to undo some of it, and restore it to a more "traditional" style > of construction. > > Regarding pin torque, a truly traditional instrument has tapered pins, as > others have noted. You have control of the pin torque, as you tune it. A > light tap tightens it, and wiggling the pin out a bit loosens it. You can > remove the pin to replace a string as often as you like without substantial > damage to the block. The idea of zither pins (miniature piano tuning pins) > was a bad idea to begin with. > > Frank Emerson > > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.560 / Virus Database: 270.12.26/2116 - Release Date: 5/15/09 6:16 AM
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