test blows

[David Love]

As a general rule, if unisons go out it's your technique, if the intervals
go out while the unisons stay solid, it's the environment.  There are, of
course, always mitigating factors.  

David Love
davidlovepianos@earthlink.net


> [Original Message]
> From: <cswearingen@daigger.com>
> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 8/19/2003 9:23:16 AM
> Subject: Re: test blows
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Don (and everyone),
>
> Ok, in my case, I'm a fairly new tuner (and a part-time tuner at that). 
My
> own piano is a Yamaha U1 and I have a Dampp-Chaser system installed.  I
> tune my piano about every 2 or 3 months and each time before I tune, when
I
> measure with my Verituner, all notes seem to be off by 2 or 3 cents?  So,
> in my opinion, the piano goes out of tune enough in 2-3 months that I feel
> it necessary to retune.  Many times, I notice unisons starting to go out
> slightly after only a few weeks of playing (the piano gets played daily).
> Would most of you experienced tuners consider this normal or would you
> expect a piano with a Dampp-Chaser to remain in tune for longer?  In your
> opinion, should an experienced tuner be able to get a tuning that stays
> right on for 6 months or is this asking too much?
>
> I use a nicely designed impact hammer for uprights and a special T-impact
> hammer for grands.  As I move the pin, I'm playing the note once every
> second or two and playing each note maybe 6-8 times with a forte blow
> before I feel everything is settled and stabilized.  I'm not a fast tuner
> by any means.  I always do two passes - a 30 minute pitch raise followed
by
> a fine tuning.  It takes be about 2 hours to do a pitch raise and fine
> tuning.
>
> Thanks in advance for your comments.
>
> Corte
>
>
>                                                                          

>                       Don                                                

>                       <pianotuna@access        To:       Pianotech
<pianotech@ptg.org>                   
>                       comm.ca>                 cc:                       

>                       Sent by:                 Subject:  Re: test blows  

>                       pianotech-bounces                                  

>                       @ptg.org                                           

>                                                                          

>                                                                          

>                       08/18/2003 09:57                                   

>                       PM                                                 

>                       Please respond to                                  

>                       Pianotech                                          

>                                                                          

>                                                                          

>
>
>
>
> Hi Corte,
>
> Define stable. Would 2 cents change over 30 months fit? Of course this is
> *only* possible if humidity is controlled.
>
> David, of course the client pays (or in the case of tapping on strings
does
> the labor themselves). We are not running a charity. Yes some coils need
to
> be lifted--but I do that with an impact type of coil lifter--so I'm still
> tapping--just upwards.
>
> I'd love to have someone show me how to tighten beckets. So far my efforts
> have produced no change in pitch--which I assume should be there.
Comments?
>
> I believe that a more accurate term would be "settling the pin" rather
than
> "setting the pin". What is the vector of force on the pin from the string?
> If the pin is settled in that direction it can move no farther.
>
> Compression set has been a very common thread recently. If the
> board/bridges have "finished" that process then the instrument will be
more
> stable--but it won't be a piano necessarily any more. There are
exceptions.
>
> At 12:31 AM 8/19/2003 -0600, you wrote:
> >I've heard stories that Franz Mohr used extremely hard test blows when
> >tuning.  Of course, I've also heard that his tunings were rock-solid
> >stable.  There seems to be a correlation here.
> >
> >Any further comments?
> >
> >Corte Swearingen
> >    I'm certainly not going through the following hassle:
> ><<Third step tap at the hitch pin, before and after rear duplex, before
> >bridge pin, on bridge pin, in front of bridge pin, middle of the string
> >length on the bridge, behind sounding length bridge pin, on sounding
> length
> >bridge pin, sounding length, and lift strings on tuning pin side of
> >aggraff.>>  Not without charging quite a bit extra, anyhow.
> >    <<The coils had never been tapped and the pitch dropped over 100
cents
> on some notes.>>
> > Yes, but what I find more often are beckets that need squeezing farther
> into the pin.  Sometimes the coils need pulling up as much as tapping
down,
> to get them tightly against each other and square to the pin.
> >    And, rock-solid only lasts until the humidity changes enough to swell
> or relax the soundboard.  What's puzzling is that some older pianos hardly
> drift out of tune at all, even over a period of 5 years.
> >    --David Nereson, RPT
>
> Regards,
> Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
>
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>
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