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

[Chris Solliday]

Hey Bill, Have you ever found a straight strate mate? ONce I started using
the Fazioli level and then Joe's I discovered the straight wasn't so
straight, so I had it straightened and then I discovered using the bubble
that it wasn't so straight. you get where this is going.
anyway, good procedure Fred and Bill I'm sure we're close.
Chris Solliday
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "william ballard" <wbps at vermontel.net>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 10:43 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] "phing....pck.....pluug"


> 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
>
>
>
>