I actually have a copy of this book. Thanks for the reference. I will give it another browse. My concern is about OVER pounding. Yes, a pound or two to stabilize and render the string is usually a standard procedure in tuning. But pounding too much, while it may allow one to get that particular sting "in tune", frequently does NOT produce a stable tuning. My concern in over pounding is that I know that while the piano may be in tune when I leave, it will probably not stay there for long. And what I am experiencing with this proves that point. Hence my concern, and my posting of this situation here. -- G • Geoff Sykes, RPT • 626-799-7545 • www.ivories52.com <http://www.ivories52.com/> -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Dornfeld Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:54 PM To: pianotech Subject: [pianotech] Tuning hammer technique (was satisfied but persistentcustomer) Seasons greetings to all of my friends here! Many great suggestions were made to help Geoff's problem with a piano that is difficult to tune, but one line was not pursued. That is the tuning hammer technique used to tune this kind of piano. Please don't think that I assume you have poor technique; extreme pianos will sometimes require extreme techniques, not better ones, just different ones. Most of us develop a hammer technique that we pretty much use all of the time. Experienced tuners develop further techniques to tune different pianos, some consciously, others subconsciously. While we never like tuning pins that are too tight, this string rendering problem is more difficult. Daniel Bowman, RPT wrote a series of articles in the Journal in the early 1990s called "The Marshmallow Zone." He says "When you turn the pin but the string doesn't follow and you can't tell where the string tension is or whether the pin foot is in the correct position, that's the Marshmallow Zone." Daniel's articles are worth rereading. Ken Burton, RPT wrote a book called "Different Strokes" subtitled "Hammer Techniques for Piano Technicians". It is the only place I have seen twenty different techniques that have proved useful to many different technicians over the years. This book is available for $19.95 from Randy Potter, see http://www.pianotuning.com/products/books.htm. You say that you find pounding a lot helps to stabilize the pitch. If you find yourself moving the tuning pins after this and repeating, you know the pin wasn't in the right place to begin with. Coordinated pounding while turning the pin can help. There is simply too much material that could be covered here for me to try to write about it all. Some of the techniques in Burton's book that would apply to this type of piano include: "Change the Clock" which refers to the hammer position on the pin, "The Grand Heintzman Yank" which is a kind of jerk technique, "The Steady Pull" and "The Karate Chop" which need no further explanation. They would require a good reading, testing, and practice. I'm not sure if I'm saying too much or way too little, but it's all I have time for tonight. Have a wonderful and prosperous new year! Bruce Dornfeld, RPT bdornfeld at earthlink.net North Shore Chapter Bruce Dornfeld, RPT bdornfeld at earthlink.net 847-498-0379 No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.200 / Virus Database: 270.10.1/1868 - Release Date: 12/29/2008 10:48 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.200 / Virus Database: 270.10.1/1868 - Release Date: 12/29/2008 10:48 AM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20081229/3573cb04/attachment.html>
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