Flag-poling: a way of life, or...?

[thepianoarts]

Tom,

    Turning  a tuning pin with lever will always result in 'Unintentional'
flag-polling. The only way to avoid what I  call 'flexing', is to use a
'T-handle lever' (with two hands), and turn the pin with one's teeth.

Dan



        
on 11/25/01 10:19 AM, Tvak@AOL.COM at Tvak@AOL.COM wrote:

> I wonder how many of you on the list manipulate the pin vertically (on a
> vertical piano, that is...).   Having started out with the Randy Potter
> course, it specifically states that the tuning hammer is not a slot machine,
> and no vertical movement should be used, and then tells you that the last
> motion to set the pin is DOWNWARD and to the left.  At my recent tutoring
> session in Reno I was tuning A4 to match the tuning fork and began to
> flagpole it to zero it in, and my tutor took the tuning hammer away from me
> and adamantly informed me I should NEVER move the pin vertically like that.
> Then, of course, I watched him do the same thing!
> 
> Is this something we all do, but no one will admit to it or is unaware that
> they are doing it?
> 
> I remember back when I started with that Randy Potter course going to the
> Cultural Arts Center in Chicago and coming across a tuner working on a piano.
> It seemed all of his motions were vertical!  This was taboo according to
> Potter!  Yet here he was, tuning a piano for the Cultural Arts Center---he
> must be good, I figured!
> 
> The only man I know who not only admits to flagpoling, but teaches it is Nick
> Kircher, a local RPT, who taught me that vertical manipulation of the pin
> helps to render the string and also helps to find a good "resting point" for
> the pin.  Since using this tecnique I have found my tunings to be very
> stable.   
> 
> I also find it easier to make subtle changes of pitch as I zero in on a good
> unison with this technique than actually turning the pin.  I generally get
> the pitch slightly sharp (by turning the pin) and then flagpole it even
> sharper, then relaxing it downward to its resting point.  To be stable the
> pin must rest not high nor low, but comfortably in the middle of that
> vertical range.
> 
> I do use it less on grands than verticals, but it still works well in the
> upper register.  (The only piano I have come across that this technique will
> not work at all is the Steinway upright.)
> 
> Flame me if you will, but I confess: I flagpole and I believe it helps me
> achieve a more stable tuning.
> 
> Any comments?
> 
> Tom Sivak  
> 
> 
>