Tuning Steinway Verticals

Fred Sturm fssturm@unm.edu
Thu, 18 Sep 2003 07:59:47 -0600


	I agree with Dave about too little friction plus too tall pins being the 
problem, at least much of the time. But the really eerie thing for me is 
the way they behave during pitch changes. Up 25 cents with a pitch raise 
function, I often find on second pass that the piano has ended up farther 
sharp than 25 cents plus that pitch change correction, at least in some 
sections (I don't do enough of these to really pin it down). IOW, somehow 
the piano "goes an extra mile" and adds to what I do. SO I usually don't 
bother with pitch change overpull any more, but still end up going through 
the piano three times. And I don't think it is my pitch raise technique 
(not settling enough), because my notion is to take longer in the first 
pass raising or lowering pitch than in the second pass (that's what I find 
leads to better stability). So I pay close attention to where the pin and 
string are during pitch change. I've only run across two or three 
non-Steinway 1098's (and whatever the console model number is) that behave 
this way. Bizarre!
	Though I do have a few of these beasts that behave fairly normally, as 
well. They tend to be older, from the 60's or 70's. Not what I'd call "easy 
to tune," but not all that bad either.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Wednesday, September 17, 2003 5:05 PM -0500 Dave Doremus 
<algiers_piano@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> 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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