Hi Jim: I tune at somewhere between 10 and 12 oclock, depending on where the hammer wants to sit on the head of the pin. Let me rephrase my approach a little bit: How flat I pull the string down is dependent on how tight and flagpoley (is that a word? :-)) the tuning pin is. The tighter it is, the flatter I pull it because you have that much more twist on the pin that you want to unwind, and you need more space to do it in. If I don't pull it flat enough, then it will do just what you describe and end up on the sharp side. How much a pinblock or individual tuning pin needs is a matter of feel and trial and error to find the sweet spot. So give it another shot. Just pull it flatter than you are presently doing and play with the amount until it wants to smile at you. Just do it, repeat 100,000 times as necessary and you will develop that feel for this method. I do not think it is a matter of muscle strength. After I have pulled the pin flat, I immediately give the pin a healthy "shove" when I start pushing it North, and then start slowing down the pin movement so that I can approach the pitch point with control. Once the pin is moving, it does not take much strength to keep moving it. As far as feedback, I can usually tell when the pin is not exactly set before the test blow confirms it. If the pin is close but not there, it is often quicker to just pull it flat again and push to the pitch point rather than futzing around. I feel like I can feel when the front segment (or other binding points) are letting go. And I usually know by feel when I have not moved the pin flat enough even before my ears confirm it. I can feel when I have not done the job right and there is residual bend in the pin, and the movement of the pin in the block when the pin is not twisted on its axis is distinctive also. Does that answer your question? Will -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jim Ialeggio Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:14 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] tuning grands left handed Hey Will and whomevers, I gave my left hand another shot the other day on a nice grand. Now I remember another reason why I abandoned it... lever at 10:00 oclock on a grand, drop pitch, then smooth push to target works very nice, but then as the pin eases itself back from the push, it pulls the speaking length a bit sharp. I remember now, I was having trouble countering this sharpen-ing tendency. It lead me to abandon my dominant hand on grands. Any thoughts. My preferred right handed position is 2 or 3 oclock (grand). To be fair, in this position the apparent pitch often rises (sometimes significantly) over the target, but I have a clear feel where the pin foot is in relation to that overshoot, and how much the pitch will come back (at least a fair amount of the time). So either righty or lefty there is an "interpretation" of where things stand when the lever is released. But lefty, I find that "interpation" zone much harder to read. I bet this has more to do with my limited muscle strength than anything else. Pulling righty from the 2-3 oclock position is quite easy to do physically, which leaves adequate strength to control and relax as things get close. Lefty, even being the dominant side, with the push against the front of the hole, the strength and endurance required may just be be beyond my my physical limits, leaving no room to relax and smell the daisies at the critical moment. But even so, I'm curious what you get in the way of feedback from the front segment and distal pin deflection in that slow lefty CW push. ...Curious and ready to continue experimenting... Jim Ialeggio -- Jim Ialeggio jim at grandpianosolutions.com 978 425-9026 Shirley Center, MA
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