Marc, I basically do your steps 1 & 2 while I'm stringing and don't do any bending/seating until I have it to pitch. I've re-strung many, many pianos and have never had any problems pulling 50 cents over. Straightening the bends on all the non-speaking segments and using the Strate-Mate on the capo bends (when at pitch, of course) gives very fast, precise results. I've always wondered where all those bends go every summer when the pianos go 20 - 30 cents sharp and in the winter when they go that flat. Everyone with sore backs from leveling strings should check out this Strate-Mate contraption. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eric Wolfley Head Piano Technician Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music University of Cincinnati ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: Mark Cramer [mailto:Cramer@BrandonU.CA] Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 9:53 AM To: College and University Technicians Subject: RE: Tuning stability 50 cents? Wow! I've been afraid to do my string-work at anything above A:440; 1. pull to tension / lift coils squeeze beckets 2. pull to 440 / seat & squeeze loops parralel 3. pull to 440 / straighten wire over the bridge fore & aft / burnish it down over the rear duplex 4. pull to 440 / lift wire at agraffes and speaking length/capo, then front duplex I'm just worried about having those bends occur other than at the terminations. I gather you guys are saying: 1.) there's no harm in pulling the strings (initially) that high? 2.) you're acheiving precise results? 3.) you're saving a boat-load of time? thanks, Mark Cramer, Brandon University -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel) Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:17 PM To: 'College and University Technicians' Subject: RE: Tuning stability While on this subject...Pianotek has re-introduced the Acousticraft Strate-Mate (sic) and I highly recommend it for anyone doing this type of restringing work. Last week during spring break I restrung the 2 capo sections of one of our Steinway Bs which is onstage one of our small recital halls and as of today I feel it is stable enough to be used in recital. I do all the positive bends that Fred mentions and concur with his experience as to much faster stabilization. The Strate-Mate takes it one step further in stretching the strings as well as leveling and straightening the "slow bend" over the capo bar. I over pulled 50 cents on the first chipping, Strate- Mated it, used the pitch-raise mode on the Cybertuner on the second pull and it is holding very well at pitch now after one fine-tune pass. The other benefit is in the leveling...I gang-filed the (new) hammers and didn't have to do any extra mating on even one hammer. They were all "spot on" as some say. This has never happened for me before and says a lot for carefully traveling shanks before installing hammers and then checking them again after they are on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eric Wolfley Head Piano Technician Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music University of Cincinnati ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: Fred Sturm [mailto:fssturm@unm.edu] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:45 PM To: College and University Technicians Subject: RE: Tuning stability --On Monday, March 29, 2004 11:09 PM +0200 Isaac OLEG <oleg-i@noos.fr> wrote: > Fred, I believe that if you warm the string rubbing them with a piece > of wood , you'll get a very fast stabilisation, and you can avoid to > bend them, bend can take place later I guess, is not it better? Isaac, My experience tells me that I should make the positive bends in the wire soon after installing it for two reasons: First, this will stabilize pitch faster. My sense is that the process of the wire "making the bends itself" over time is a very large proportion of the cause for pitch drop of new wire. On new pianos from the factory, for instance, I find that heavy pounding can drop pitch by 50 cents or more. Not true of pianos I have restrung and made those positive bends. I interpret that to mean that the pounding is largely helping to create those bends. Second, the tone becomes much clearer, with a less "fuzzy" pitch. This difference is pretty readily apparent. Pull to pitch without making bends and listen. Make bends and pull to pitch, and listen. I do like to make sure pitch is as close to standard as possible when making the bends. Hence, 25 cents sharp before making the bends from bridge to hitch pin. Making the bends lowers pitch by 25 cents or a bit more. So I pull sharp again before making the front bends, which leaves the string close to pitch. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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