[CAUT] "phing....pck.....pluug"

[william ballard]

On Jul 21, 2006, at 11:35 AM, Susan Kline wrote:
> "phing....pck......pluug" is a keeper.

Heck, it's all Vietnamese to me.

On Jul 21, 2006, at 9:35 AM, Fred Sturm wrote:
> I used to do all my string leveling to the hammers, starting with a  
> level filing job, then leveling by mating (pressing hammer to string).

And I used to start my string leveling with the nylon roller of a  
Straight Mate, having moved the pivot of the lever so that it held  
the roller to the string with a much more reasonable pressure. And  
before that I fooled around with a small machinist's steel adjustable  
parallel.

But one day I mounted a dial indicator in a machinist vice. Sliding  
it up and down the length of three strings of a unison (between the  
edge of the plate and the strike point, I quickly saw that each  
string had it's own curvature. Sliding the dial indicator across the  
three strings at the strike point and just ahead of the dampers, I  
got two sets of readings. I decided that the only relevant place to  
measure string level was at the exact same spot as the strike point.

I also noticed that my voicer's ear could pick up open string whines  
when the open string was a mere 5 mils above its neighbors. (Of  
course the softer the hammer, the less hammer fitting is an issue.....)

> But I can get to a more precise place much faster if I start by  
> leveling the strings with a string level.

Good. I'm happy for you. Seriously

> Try it, you may like it.

If I need to I might, but this technique has never steered me wrong

> That said, I can usually get a pretty fine level on a piano in an  
> hour, and then have very little touch up unless I am doing  
> extraordinarily persnickety work.

Roughly my same time, plus the work has been done on the basis of  
sorting out where the out-of-level is, and the fitting in the U.C.  
position has also been directly verified instead of assumed.

> Just like tuning precise unisons, setting precise rep string  
> strength, or setting a precise hammer line. Or bending grand damper  
> wires. Minute, controlled movements.

We work the same way, and I think we would enjoy watching each other  
work.

mrbl
wbps at vermontel.net