[CAUT] Agraffe alignment

[Jim Busby]

Hi Ron,

Have you tried Paul Revenko Jones' method of agraffe
restoration/shaping? It polishes the holes and makes a better taper
(radius) which doesn't seem to damage as easily. I might take off one
that I did months ago and see if it manifests the same kind of damage as
you expressed. They still have no noise so maybe this "less acute" angle
doesn't fracture as easily. I do this to all agraffes, new or old, and
it seems to minimize the mini glacial thing. (I like that visual) 

Regards,
Jim Busby BYU

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Ron Overs
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 5:02 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Agraffe alignment

Hi Jeff and all,

A considerable number of agraffes (sets) are poorly made. With holes 
which are less than ideal (for those of you who are in some doubt 
about this, try cutting a couple of sample new agraffes and checking 
them with a magnifying lense and a good light - you will be surprised 
at the sloppy machining which often abounds). Furthermore, many 
manufacturers make an ordinary situation worse by designing the plate 
with a string-approach-angle to the agraffes which is guaranteed to 
result in severe damage to the agraffe holes, by about the time of 
the first chip-up.

Please feel free to continue the educational process by repeating the 
above mentioned inspection test with a used agraffe (after the first 
chip-up will do). The top-side inner string-bearing-point of the 
agraffe holes will look like a mini-glacier has just been through. 
With the magnitude of deformation which is routine, its no surprise 
that we hear a few 'zingers' in most pianos.

I suspect that there are designers who believe that the tonal quality 
will be improved by having a steep string approach angle. Its the 
only scenario which I believe could be properly attributed to the 
practice. But if an appropriate length of free-string is used, 
between the agraffe and the first string support, a high angle is not 
necessary.

Ron O.

>. . . I've seen some pretty rough agraffes coming out of Steinways 
>from the late 60s and early 70s.  I wonder now if maybe those 
>agraffes had been turned to help with buzzing or other noises I've 
>heard from Steinway agraffes from that era - just maybe the buzzes 
>trumped the tuning consequences?
>
>Jeff
>
>Jeff Tanner, RPT
>University of South Carolina


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