[CAUT] restrung D

[RicB]

Hi Alan

Since you asked for thoughts, I'll chime in.  You know me well enough by 
now to know my own thinking on loose pins and single string beats is 
somewhat different then Ron Nossamans'. To begin with, of course any 
string seating procedure constitutes a temporary improvement in piano 
sound. It is not a fix whatsoever, at least not in its usual maintenance 
sense. IMHO to suggest that we should not carry out appropriately this 
kind of procedure on the grounds that it is only a <<temporary fix>> is 
essentially tantamount to saying we should not bother tuning because the 
piano will just go out of tune again.

As to specifics of seating.  I will tap the pin down very slightly only 
if I feel there is a nick (read grove) in the pin that is perhaps 
holding the string slightly off the  bridge surface. I suspect this kind 
of thing when the sound is fuzzy, unfocused... wavering and not 
necessarily a matter of single string beats... which I do not believe 
have much or anything at all to do with a pin that has been pushed up a 
bit for whatever reasons.  I also gently tap the string itself behind 
the pin on the bridge surface itself with a wooden dowel made of a 
reasonably soft wood.  If the string needs seating... these two will do 
the job and do so without exasperating any problem with the notch 
assuming you are careful to be gentle.  But I have no expectations at 
all of relieving any kind of single string beat with any of this.

Bridge pins of various hardness are available, tho I dont think you are 
going to get around the problem of grooving without causing a new 
problem of string breakage... 

Lastly I have never ever ever seen a piano completely free of single 
string beats. No matter what kind of bridge configuration has been used. 
True enough some are nearly clean of them.... but every piano has them, 
and as a piano gets older they develop more. 

Cheers
RicB


    Hi Daniel,

    Having just returned from the PNWC in SLC and taking a class from Ron
    Nossman, my understanding of what is happening at the bridge-bridge pin-
    string interface has been revised yet again. Like many others I was
    taught
    to seat the strings by tapping gently on the top of the bridge right
    at each
    pin. Then that was revised to tapping the string in front of the bridge
    sideways toward the string. That was revised to tapping the bridge
    pin down
    and not tapping the string down at all. Now however, Ron has presented a
    compelling argument that tapping the pin down is a temporary fix at best
    (feel free to jump in here Ron when you get back home from SLC). A
    couple
    seasonal humidity shifts later and the pin will have risen back up.
    Not only
    that, because the pin is at an angle, over the seasons the string
    pushes up
    on the pin and in the process creats an oblong hole at the top of
    the bridge
    surface (flagpoling of the pin). Result? False beats. Cure? Quick
    and dirty:
    CA glue at side of pin opposite the string. Cure at rebuild? Very hard
    bridge cap with pins epoxied in, but with the pin not seated in the
    hole.
    The concept being that the tight fit of the pin at the surface of
    the bridge
    is what counts, not whether the pin is seated at the bottom of the
    hole. In
    fact, Ron says, a pin tight at the bottom, but flagpoling by a
    minute amount
    at the top is still a source of false beats. So the idea of testing the
    integrity of bridge pins by giving them a yank and assuming that, if
    they
    are tight they are still good, may not be an accurate test.

    BTW, regarding that nick in the side of the bridge pins (caused by the
    string digging into it) that was the topic of a thread awhile back.
    Anyone
    have any thoughts as to the effects of this nick on tone and tuning? I'm
    guessing that the effect is negative for both (based on absolutely no
    experiment!)  But if my guess is correct, would a harder material
    for bridge
    pins be a good idea? Bridge pins are probably #2 steel plated with
    either
    copper or nickel, and nickel is harder than copper, right?

    Talk about long-winded.

    Thoughts anyone?

    Alan

    -- Alan McCoy, RPT
    Eastern Washington University
    amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
    509-359-4627
    --