<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] Harpsichord tuning tips/string setting</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 12/3/05 10:47 AM, "Don McKechnie" <dmc= kech@ithaca.edu> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>Mike and Fred, Some years ago I had some one on one instruction from Bill Dowd on regulati= ng, tuning and voicing. Bill was of the same opinion as Mike's harpsichordis= t. For the most part, that is how I have tuned ever since. It does not alway= s work with certain pins, certain instruments. One just has to adjust some t= imes. I believe Bill Garlick was in favor of this method as well but he got = a good bit of his training from Dowd. BTW, I can't see how people can use th= e gooseneck to tune a harpsichord. :-) Bill & Bill were in favor of the = T handle as well. Don </BLOCKQUOTE>Hi Don,     Yes, I am very aware that these opinions are widesp= read among the harpsichord community, and rise from very authoritative sourc= es. Being one of those ornery people who can’t seem to accept what an = authoritative source says without having personally verified it, I choose to= disagree based on my own experience, which is reasonably extensive.     In the end, it comes down to doing what works for y= ou. I can tune a harpsichord with square headed pins five or six minutes fas= ter, and with less concentration and effort, using a gooseneck rather than a= T hammer. If it has a four foot, I’d make that 10 to 15 minutes faste= r. I just find the T hammer more frustrating to use for minute turns. It&#82= 17;s easier to do a controlled push or pull motion with the fingers at a gre= ater leverage advantage than it is to do a twist of the wrist. For me, anywa= y.     As for the pull up to pitch notion, I don’t t= hink it has any more validity than the notion that one has to do the same wi= th a piano. There is an old school of thought that incorporates so-called &#= 8220;pin setting” with overall hammer technique: “pull it sharp = a bit, then settle the pin back.” This can be a very effective automat= ic physical technique for achieving a stable tuning. But it is also quite po= ssible to move a string to pitch and stability by other means. For instance,= one can turn the pin in the block in such a way that the string doesn&#8217= ;t come quite to pitch (from either direction), by having the lever at an an= gle that doesn’t flagpole/twist the pin in the direction you are movin= g pitch,  and then pull the string through the bearing friction points = using jerking/flagpoling/twisting action and set it at dead stable. It all d= epends on the minutia of your hammer technique, and there are infinite varia= bles available.     In the end, on harpsichord or piano, one must move = the pin in the block the precise amount needed, and, separately or at the sa= me time, stabilize the string and pin. A technique that does all at the same= time can be the most efficient, and “pull from below” is probab= ly intended in that light – and it will work assuming your hammer tech= nique is correct, accounting for any flagpoling and twist (sometimes you fin= d harpsichords with tight enough blocks that this is a real issue). But, as = I wrote in my earlier post, if you are above pitch to begin with, it is just= as possible to move directly down to stable pitch, with the same variables = in play.     So the “pull from below” advice might m= ake for a good set of automatic motions to learn, but it doesn’t reall= y have an absolute physical validity, IMO. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico </BODY> </HTML>