hi pressure pressure bar

[Greg Newell]

Tom,
    From what you describe it's likely that you will have to loosen the pressure
bar as you say. Tuning stability will suffer as you predict. Personally, I'd say
if it is really that tight it's probably not adjusted correctly anyway. This
piano must have been really tough to tune. I believe that the purpose for the
pressure bar is to deflect the angle of the string to insure proper termination.
I'm fairly sure it's NOT used to clamp the string in place. I would always
deflect the string a minimal amount so that the deflection angle is not too
great. I feel that this steep angle is one of the problems in obtaining a stable
tuning. My 2 cents.

Greg

Tvak@aol.com wrote:

> Tuned a Kimball console yesterday and broke a string.  A trichord unison at
> E3/F3 broke at the becket, which surprised me since the piano was not that
> flat.  And then I found out why it broke.  The pressure bar is extremely
> tight and creates way too much friction.  I judge this on the fact that it
> was extremely difficult just to remove the broken string.  I had to use a
> pliers.  And the needlenose pliers I tried first didn't do the trick;  I had
> to get the big pliers out of the tool case and pull as hard as I could to get
> it out of there, and it went millimeter by millimeter by tug by tug.  (My
> wrist is still sore today.)  I didn't replace the string because it goes
> under the bass strings and I didn't have the tool with me (that tube thing
> from APSCO, whatever it's called) to insert the new string in place.  (All in
> all, this was my lucky day.)
>
> So I'm going back next week.  I'm worried that I won't be able to get the new
> string under the pressure bar.  I've been told NEVER loosen those screws on
> the pressure bar, but what if I can't get the string in there?  What will
> happen if I loosen that one little screw? And in fact there is one right
> there between E3 and F3.  I think that little bugger is the problem here.
>
> I would imagine that loosening the pressure bar a bit would put that register
> out of tune. OK, I can retune it.   Any other dangers here?  Will the piano
> bench fall apart or the logo decal come off?
>
> Seriously, I'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject.  It would be pretty
> embarrassing if I can't get a new string in there.
>
> Tom Sivak

--
Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net