For you mathemeticians..

[Ron Nossaman]

> Does anyone know any kind of 
> formula, based on the string measurements and tension, that will tell 
> what pitch to tune it to and how long it will take to settle down to the 
> right pitch? 
 >
> Jesse Gitnik


No.

My biggest problem with string replacement is getting 
customers to leave the mute the heck ALONE. I used to get the 
call a couple of weeks after the string replacement with the 
complaint that one of the notes "slipped", and sounded awful. 
It was, of course, because after I had showed them what I had 
done and instructed them to leave the mute alone, and why, 
they had subsequently "discovered" the mute in there, and 
pulled it. Now I follow Kent Swafford's advice and install two 
mutes. One visible sacrificial mute for them to know about, 
admire, worry over, and snatch out as the mood randomly 
strikes them, and a callback prevention stealth mute hidden 
out of sight back under the lid or under the dampers on a 
vertical and doing the real work. So next year, I get the 
"Here, you accidentally left this in the piano last time" mute 
handed to me (Oh yes, thank you), and can ferret out the 
stealth mute and tune the new string with everything else 
without penalty. It works.
Ron N