[pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

[David Love]

Consider that the main issue in stability is tension equilibrium in the
various string segments (more than leaving excess flex in the pin).  Over
shooting means that you have necessarily increased the tension in the first
segment (nearest the tuning pin) more than the other segments and stability
is only achieved when you have released the excess tension from that segment
back to the remaining segments and they land where you want them.  Not only
does that increase the possibility that with any rendering issues the first
segment will be slow to give up its excess tension but it gives you an
automatic correction that must be made.  If you could simply increase the
tension in the first segment only the requisite amount necessary to bring
the speaking length up to pitch, then you only need to wait for the pitch to
rise to where you want it and stop, not rise past where you want it settling
it back down to where you hope it will stop and stay.  It's more efficient.
You do that with counter pressure on the pin.  It is interesting to note
that in the RPT exam re stability, according to my local CTE, 95% of the
loss of stability is to the flat side.  That suggests that the tendency to
leave excess tension in that first segment is the prevailing one when things
go wrong.  It would be better not to get it there in the first place.
Overshooting also, in my opinion, increases the likelihood of string
breakage, especially on pianos that render poorly.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of John Formsma
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 5:37 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

 

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 6:44 PM, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
wrote:

 

But the point was that tuning up to the target in a couple of
quick small movements to prevent overshooting can be quicker and more stable
than overshooting and settling things back down.  

 

 

Not sure it is necessarily more stable. I've tried several different ways,
and can get the same stability with all of them. Some of them feel better
than others, and the piano does make a difference in what lever technique
works best. I don't see how a normal overshoot, one string at a time, can
make a tuning less stable. After all, the net tension stays the same as if
you use those small movements without overshoot. (Assuming that's possible.)

 

 

Overshoot is not necessary
if you apply counter pressure to the pin to offset the tendency for the
twisting and bending motion to pull it sharp, but I'm not going to revisit
the entire thing here.  It's in the piece that I wrote and the application
of that type of counter pressure was the main point.

 

 

A couple years ago, I thought I was doing the above with great success. But
nowadays, I'm not so sure. <G> Whatever I'm doing works, but I'm not sure I
could describe it very well using words. I think we basically find what
works well for us as individuals.


-- 
JF

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