[CAUT] Bechstein model B tuning stability

[Fred Sturm]

Hi David,
	Well stated. Your original post seemed a bit timid:
  "A very conscious rotary motion with even a slight forward press"
which kind of sounded like you didn't really mean it about the forward  
press. I was just trying to say "right on! press that hammer down with  
no apologies!" I agree with you 100%. Including about the worst  
scenario (though an extra loose block with lots of friction runs a  
close second).
Fred

On Oct 18, 2009, at 4:31 PM, David Love wrote:

> The basic idea is that you manipulate the pin with counter pressure  
> to the natural tendency for the pin to twist so that the change in  
> pitch only reflects actual movement of the pin in the block.  At  
> least that’s what I meant in the original post.  With the hammer at  
> 12:00 you can press slightly downward  which will move the pin  
> toward the string as you are turning the pin and it is twisting  
> before it actually moves in the block.  With practice you can learn  
> to feel the amount of downward pressure needed to negate the pitch  
> change associated with the twisting of the pin.  When you release  
> the downward pressure and also allow the pin to relax with some  
> practice those two forces will remain net neutral.  This allows you  
> to creep up to the target pitch rather than have to pull it a bit  
> sharp and set it downward as this is particularly difficult with  
> high friction in the string bearing segments.  The best way to learn  
> this is with an ETD where you can actually see what’s happening  
> while you feel the pin.  The amount of pressure needed to compensate  
> for twisting will change depending on how tight the block is.  The  
> worst possible scenario is severe friction through the string  
> segments combined with an overly tight block.  Usually, Bechstein  
> pianos (at least older ones) don’t suffer from overly tight blocks  
> and the ones that are open faced minimize the flagpolling effect  
> because of the close proximity of the hammer pin contact to the  
> block itself.
>
> David Love
> www.davidlovepianos.com
>
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf  
> Of Fred Sturm
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 9:45 AM
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] Bechstein model B tuning stability
>
> On Oct 17, 2009, at 3:53 PM, Jeannie Grassi wrote:
>
>
> Hi Fred, and anyone else,
> Can you take your description of downward and upward motion a step  
> further?  I’ve been hearing conflicting descriptions of this  
> recently in private communications.  What I’m asking is  
> specifically….when the pitch needs to go up, do you lift up on the  
> end of the tuning lever at the same time there is a slight rotation  
> to sharpen?  And conversely, does one push down and rotate slightly  
> flat?  I’ve had the opposite described and just want to get a sense  
> of how most people interpret this deliberate flag-poling motion.   
> I’ve always used it the way I’ve described.  Have I been climbing up  
> the wrong flagpole all these years????  :>)
> jeannie
>
>
>

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu





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