Hammer technique for 7' grands

[Thomas Cole]

I've noticed this problem on similar pianos. The tuning is very 
difficult until you get to the capo bar area, then suddenly it becomes 
easy. I normally use a similar approach to tuning but when you have 
intractable pianos such as you describe, it serves you well to have a 
number of tuning hammer techniques in your arsenal.

It seems to happen where the strings are rusty in the area between the 
tuning pins and the agraffes which has increased the friction between 
the strings and the counterbearing cloth. There may also be some 
frictional problems going through the agraffes due to the rust.

As Paul suggested, soaking a little Protek in this area can help some 
(but I would caution against silicone). Nothing short of restringing 
will do a whole lot of good, IMO.

Tom Cole

Sherry wrote:

>Hi,
>    I recently had 4 different jobs tuning 6'11" to 7' grands (Steinway,
>Yamaha and Baldwin).  With each of the pianos I had the same problem.  I
>would use short, sharp "jerks" on the tuning hammer to bring a string to
>pitch.  I would feel the pin move (not twist but actually move) but the
>pitch wouldn't change.  Then suddenly on the 5th or 6th stroke the pitch
>would jump quite a bit above where I wanted it to be.  When I tried to lower
>it to the correct pitch the would stay put and then leap back down below
>where I wanted it.  Eventually I was able to get it to the right spot but it
>was all very frustrating.  Is there a special (or different) hammer
>technique that one should use with the larger grands or did I just manage to
>get 4 difficult pianos?
>        Thanks for the help.      Sherry
>
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