Nosing Around

[Ron Nossaman]

>While zoning out on a tuning today I realized I had been staring at the nose
>bolts on this Petrof Grand for quite some time.


Hi Jeannie, 
Brian covered all the official technical stuff, but he left out one thing.
Nose bolts are part of an ongoing long term program among manufacturers,
that has been in place for many years. When the program was established,
the thinking was that since tuners don't have much of anything interesting
to do while they're tuning (unless they're in trouble, which explains the
lack of nose bolts in lower class pianoids), nose bolts will give them
something to focus on and ponder, thus preventing brain atrophy which can
lead to all sorts of secondary problems - possibly even thirdary. To their
credit and our benefit, manufacturers have supported this program by
including lots and lots of these little ponderment inducers scattered
throughout their products. Some more than others. The nose bolt is one of
the more visible, sort of introductory items on the list. Sadly, through
the years, some manufacturers have lost sight of the original intent of the
program and have added items in a random, arbitrary, or abusive manner.
Some were added for marketing purposes, and some were actually intended as
diversions to draw the tuners' attentions from existing faults. This is, of
course, contrary to the original beneficent intent of the program and
should be kept in mind as we avail ourselves of the entertainment and
educational opportunities so thoughtfully provided with each piano. Or we
can just grab a quick nap while we're doing unisons. Either way works.

Ron N