Tuning Steinway Verticals

[Ken Jankura]

I absolutely agree with you, Dave. I have an S&S vertical that I call (or at
least think of as) 'My Nemesis', and I can change pitch with my thumb on the
pin (I measured it on the SAT). I hate tuning it. That lack of friction is
so very hard to deal with. I tune a Baldwin R like that, that sounds like a
guitar whammy bar every time you put your hammer on. Ugh. Never feels like
you're finished, even after you've handed in the bill and walked away.
Ken Jankura
Fayetteville PA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Doremus" <algiers_piano@bellsouth.net>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 6:05 PM
Subject: Re: Tuning Steinway Verticals


> My small opinion, I agree totally about settling the tuning pin, you
> need to flex it a little (a wiggle?) before you leave the note even
> after test blows. But, my feeling about these, and this is just a
> feeling, is that the problem is not too much friction but too little
> seperation between the tuning pin side and the speaking length. We
> all now how too much agraffe friction feels, you pull and pull and
> nothing happens until suddenly you are too far past it. This can be
> terrible if the pins are loose. In the Steinways case even putting on
> the tuning hammer can cause an alarming wow in the pitch. I have an
> 1880 vertical, and have restored a number of similar ones, where even
> leaning on the tuning pin will not produce such a drastic effect.
> These have no plate bushings and a massive capo bar as well and no
> flex problems. So, IMHO, I'm not convinced that pin bushings and less
> friction will really solve the problem.
>
>
> ----Dave
>
>
> -----------------------------
> Dave Doremus RPT
> New Orleans
> algiers_piano@bellsouth.net
> ------------------------------
>
> >
> >
> >My two cents worth...I have always found that pulling the string up
> >from the flat side and then pounding the crud out of it helps (it
> >seems to settle "up"). Settling down from the sharp side is less
> >effective. Also, if you push the tuning lever away from the plate
> >going flat, and toward the plate going sharp, that seems to work.
> >This is the reverse of what I intuitively do on most pianos. I agree
> >with what Susan says in the snip below, and also that, once I get
> >the sucker in tune, it really stays there. Glad that S&S has made
> >improvements, though.
> >
> >Mary Smith
> >UT-Austin
> >
> >>
> >>I must say, though, that once I get one really in tune, it has an
> >>interesting sound and is fun to play. That is, if I have the strength of
> >>mind to forget how it was to tune, so I feel like playing it.
> >>
> >
> >--
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>
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