<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] chipping, was Re:  pre-stretching new string?</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> I lay a blanket over the strings to dampen the sound some.   Tune all the Cs on the whole piano including unisons, then Fs, Gs, etc. by my temperament sequence. Two passes takes less than 50 minutes and keeps tension equal and provides a piano at pitch.  I let it rest while I space hammers, do initial complete regulation, even do some first stage hammer filing, and install dampers.  After this work,  (days), pitch raise plus a 30 minute tuning.  Do another regulation and even some tone regulating.  (days go by), Another pitch raise plus an even better tuning  (passes 5 and 6).  I am doing now doing final regulating  and voicing and the piano is getting very stable. -Mike Jorgensen On 6/6/07 9:16 AM, "Wimblees@aol.com" <Wimblees@aol.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>In a message dated 6/6/07 8:02:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time, pwilliams4@unlnotes.unl.edu writes: <BLOCKQUOTE>I agree Wim, That is exactly the same method I use.  When restringing a whole  piano, however, I only tune sharp by 30-35 cents for three to four tunings,  then tune at 440, then re-settle the strngs with tapping at bridges, re  squeezing beckets, tightening coils, releveling, if needed, then tune again  perhaps slightly above 440.  If it is the humid time of year, I'll just  tune at 440 as nature will pull it sharp for a few months.  Then, it's  pretty stable after that. Best, Paul   </BLOCKQUOTE> I want to add that when stringing, I also do all of the above, (tapping, tightening, etc.) I just assumed everyone does those things, and that it is nothing "different". Also, when I chip, the first note is a semi tone sharp. As I said, by the time I get done chipping the piano, and probably when I'm about a third of the way through, the pitch of that note has probably dropped to about even, or even lower than the pitch.   BTW, here is my chipping technique. I wonder if this is how others do it.   I chip the left string of the first note at the break. (I get my pitch from another piano. When I was in St. Louis, for a while I had my shop by my house, and often didn't have another piano to get a pitch from. So I would go in the house, and play the note I needed, and then hummed it while walking back to the shop. I guess if anyone would have seen and heard me, they probably though I was crazy. ((No comments please)))   I "play" a major scale all the way to c8. (I do this aurally). I then go up a half a step, and again chip only the left string. Of course the 3rd and 7th notes are already in tune, so that more or less gives me a guide. When I get done with the right strings, I tune the left strings, but chipping every note. I then chip the bass section. Finally I go back and chip tune the middle strings. I believe this evens out the tension as much as possible.   Comments??   Wim <HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="100%">See what's free at AOL.com <a href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503"><http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503></a> . </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>