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Ron & Fred,<br>
<br>
It certainly is what one is used to doing and how we each approach the
setting of the individual string/pin. We have been setting those
strings/pins our own way (or the way we were taught) for a long time.
Sometimes you can't teach an old dog new tricks! :-)<br>
<br>
Don<br>
<br>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display: inline;">Subject: </div>
Re: [CAUT] Harpsichord tuning tips/string setting</td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display: inline;">From: </div>
Ron Nossaman <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rnossaman@cox.net"><rnossaman@cox.net></a></td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display: inline;">Date: </div>
Sun, 04 Dec 2005 23:12:29 -0600</td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display: inline;">To: </div>
College and University Technicians <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:caut@ptg.org"><caut@ptg.org></a></td>
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<br>
<div class="moz-text-flowed"
style="font-family: -moz-fixed; font-size: 13px;" lang="x-western">Fred
Sturm wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">On 12/3/05 10:47 AM, "Don McKechnie" <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dmckech@ithaca.edu"><dmckech@ithaca.edu></a>
wrote:
<br>
<br>
Mike and Fred,
<br>
<br>
Some years ago I had some one on one instruction from Bill Dowd on
<br>
regulating, tuning and voicing. Bill was of the same opinion as
<br>
Mike's harpsichordist. For the most part, that is how I have tuned
<br>
ever since. It does not always work with certain pins, certain
<br>
instruments. One just has to adjust some times. I believe Bill
<br>
Garlick was in favor of this method as well but he got a good bit
of
<br>
his training from Dowd. BTW, I can't see how people can use the
<br>
gooseneck to tune a harpsichord. <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span>
:-) </span></span> Bill & Bill were in favor of
<br>
the T handle as well.
<br>
<br>
Don
<br>
<br>
Hi Don,
<br>
Yes, I am very aware that these opinions are widespread among the
harpsichord community, and rise from very authoritative sources. 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.
<br>
In the end, it comes down to doing what works for you. I can tune a
harpsichord with square headed pins five or six minutes faster, 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 faster. I
just find the T hammer more frustrating to use for minute turns. It’s
easier to do a controlled push or pull motion with the fingers at a
greater leverage advantage than it is to do a twist of the wrist. For
me, anyway.
<br>
As for the pull up to pitch notion, I don’t think it has any more
validity than the notion that one has to do the same with a piano.
There is an old school of thought that incorporates so-called “pin
setting” with overall hammer technique: “pull it sharp a bit, then
settle the pin back.” This can be a very effective automatic physical
technique for achieving a stable tuning. But it is also quite possible
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’t
come quite to pitch (from either direction), by having the lever at an
angle that doesn’t flagpole/twist the pin in the direction you are
moving pitch, and then pull the string through the bearing friction
points using jerking/flagpoling/twisting action and set it at dead
stable. It all depends on the minutia of your hammer technique, and
there are infinite variables available.
<br>
In the end, on harpsichord or piano, one must move the pin in the
block the precise amount needed, and, separately or at the same 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 probably
intended in that light – and it will work assuming your hammer
technique is correct, accounting for any flagpoling and twist
(sometimes you find 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.
<br>
So the “pull from below” advice might make for a good set of
automatic motions to learn, but it doesn’t really have an absolute
physical validity, IMO.
<br>
Regards,
<br>
Fred Sturm
<br>
University of New Mexico
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
Authoritative sources aside, I personally tune harpsichords just like I
tune pianos, except for test blows for settling in. I pull them up or
drop them down to pitch, as usual, then alternately turn and jiggle the
pin back and forth to find the point where it will be most likely to
stay where I leave it - then leave it. I don't have a template. I don't
have a checklist. I don't have a conditional set of programmed
movements I use in each of a specific number of defined circumstances.
I attempt to read what each and every pin and string it telling me and
leave it in the most stable condition I can from the information it
gives me. It makes life simpler. There is only one infinitely variable
hammer technique - whatever the feedback tells me is working to my
satisfaction, and my tunings are more stable than most, if not as shiny
as some. I've always considered this to be a no-brainer. As I listen
and read about the near infinitely detailed absolute conditional
techniques for dealing with each narrowly, but nebulously defined
contingent, I am always baffled that the tuning lever operator didn't
immediately give up the ego, attempting to force it into a, arbitrary
proprietary category, and just adjust as necessary to make it work as
the physical reality requires. I find that the "technique" changes from
pin to pin, as well as from piano to piano to harpsichord to guitar to
whatever, and in my opinion, if the tuner isn't able to recalibrate
automatically, mindlessly, and effortlessly on the fly (or Denro), on a
moment by moment basis, he's just pretending.
<br>
<br>
But what do I know?
<br>
<br>
Ron N
<br>
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