<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha= rset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f"> <DIV>From what I've been able to gather, it appears that the main culprit fo= r a string going out of tune is the lack of equalization of the various segm= ents of the string, especially, as Jim indicated, over the bridge. It also a= ppears that pounding, as I do, is not necessarily the answer to stabilizatio= n. Please understand that I don't pound on every tuning. I do this on my fir= st tuning, especially on a concert instrument, and have found it to be quite= effective in that the piano is much more stable after that. However, even a= t that, there are still strings that go out a few cents, which is what my qu= estion is all about. Why does that happen?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The best I can conclude is that even with as much pounding as I do, and= most of you have different versions of that, there are still goin= g to be some equalization problems. Am I correct to assume that those proble= ms are going to more prevalent in older instruments where the strings a= re a little more corroded, with notches, and rougher bridges, etc.? Or do ne= wer instrument have the same problem?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If it is the former, then perhaps this answers a question I had several= years ago when I asked, why restring the treble section of a piano? I = think it was Fred who said that restringing gets rid of the buzzes and wild = strings. But I think it is safe to assume now that restringing is going to d= o more than that. New strings will move over the bridge easier, and around a= ll the pressure points. But along with the restringing, the bridges also wil= l need attention. Maybe most of you already knew this, but I never paid much= attention to the bridge, other than cleaning it. (Presuming, of course the = bridges are intact.) It appears, based on Jim's assessment, that the bridge = needs to be polished, and perhaps the pins replaced, to give the strings as = much help rendering over the bridge as possible. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Comments?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim</DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano tuner/technician<BR>School of Music<BR>Universit= y of Alabama<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>