[pianotech] Consensus of technique

[Randy Chastain]

I have a related question that happened to  me yesterday. It was a  
probably 1940s baby grand and it tuned very well, surprisingly, with  
good pin torque and tuning stability until the last 2 octaves. The  
pins were snapping and jumping  severely. I usually have good fine  
control of my hammer in these kind of situations but on this one I was  
afraid I might pop a string. It didn't look like any"fluid" had been  
placed around the pins...no evidence of that.
Any suggestions as to what it is and any way to make it more tunable?

Randy Chastain
Golden Gate Chapter



On Dec 6, 2009, at 4:37 AM, Ken & Pat Gerler wrote:

> It also depends on the age of the piano and the condition of the pin  
> block. If the torque is very low, the pin is not "twisting" as you  
> tune and in addition, if the string is rendering easily, just  
> bringing the string to pitch will be the best you can do. If a piano  
> has the conditions I have noted, when you go past and try to bring  
> the string into tune, it will go flat, past the point you want it to  
> be in tune.
>
> As has been noted, with piano that are "in good shape", and  
> depending on how high the torque is on the pins, I always go  
> slightly sharp when "settling" the pin in and then "tweak" the  
> hammer back and forth to see if the pin is "solid" and the pitch  
> will stay where I put it.
>
> Ken Gerler
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerald Groot" <tunerboy3 at comcast.net 
> >
> To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 5:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Consensus of technique
>
>
>> Depends on the piano and situation.  Sometimes, they just fall  
>> right into
>> place no matter which direction we are coming from.  I often very,  
>> slightly,
>> over shoot it and then put it in.
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 
>> ] On Behalf
>> Of Mike Kurta
>> Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 5:44 PM
>> To: pianotech at ptg.org
>> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Consensus of technique
>>
>>   I vote for overshoot and tune down.  Two reasons:  It seems  
>> smoother and
>>
>> more precise to let tension down to hit the correct pitch rather  
>> than pull
>> up on the string against itself.  Also, the pull of the string  
>> against the
>> pin is a rotational torque in a counterclockwise direction.  If the  
>> last
>> movement of the pin is also in this direction, the top of the pin  
>> is already
>>
>> in harmony with the pull of the string, the twisting force of  
>> tightening the
>>
>> string is relaxed and the pin tends to stay where you leave it. In  
>> very
>> tight pins this equalizes the pin twist from top to bottom.  Of  
>> course a
>> moderate key blow is necessary during all this.  Does this make  
>> sense?
>>   Mike Kurta, RPT
>>
>>
>>
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>