Strip Muting/unisons

[Graeme Harvey]

Roger,
I've just come in on this thread, somehow missed the start.
How do you strip mute the treble section? Do you slip the action forward or
what? I strip up to about C5 (52) at which point I run out of space above
the hammerline. I'm just curious. I was taught by two tuners in the workshop
I spent my early years in, one used single mute and the other strip muted
the temperament only.
These days I strip mute down to last bichord.

Of course there isn't any reason why using your method you could fit both
strips simultaneously, (below the hammer / damper line above say A4 ) tune
the centre strings, then simply pull out one strip leaving the other in
place covering every other outside string. This makes sense only if you are
removing the action to mute in the first place.

Graeme Harvey
New Plymouth NZ


----- Original Message -----
From: Roger C Hayden <rchayden2@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2000 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: Strip Muting/unisons


> I like strip muting and whole step tuning, too.  I discovered it while
> doing time/motion studies on the fastest method of tuning (for me).  The
> stop watch told me what was quicker.
> Strip muting the whole piano, leaving the middle string singing, and then
> tuning all them I found quick.
>
> Then strip muting again every other unison, leaving the middle string and
> one outside (out of tune) string singing let me set these strings in
> next, doing them by whole steps, because getting to the end of several
> short trips seems psychologically so much easier than one long tedious
> trip.
>
> Then I pull the strip out and tune the other set of outside strings,
> again working in whole steps.  I found this much faster, because I can
> strip mute a whole piano in under two minutes, which doesn't compare with
> handling a rubber mute upwards of 200 times.
>
> And I agree that whole steps seem to keep the ear fresher, and when in
> the treble undampered strings, a note that continues to sustain a whole
> step away from where you are now tuning doesn't seem to interfere as
> much.
>
> The psychological element of whole step tuning is critical.  I, too
> average five tunings a day, have done seven tunings many times, and a
> couple of days, ten.  Chromatic scales are very intense to listen to.  Ed
> Pettingill, who taught me much twenty years ago, found tuning to be very
> nerve racking.  I do not.  Ed used rubber mutes and chromatic sequencing.
> (Of course he's also a violist.)
>
> Roger Hayden, RPT
>