[pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

[David Love]

You can apply an offsetting pressure to the lever that will compensate for
the twisting of the pin such that the pitch will not change.  Try it.  From
the 1:00 position apply pressure which is both down toward the speaking
length and around as if you were moving the pin in the sharper direction. Do
it without actually moving the pin in the block and you will see that you
can apply quite a bit of pressure without the pitch changing at all.  Now
exert a bit more around pressure while adding a bit more downward pressure
so that the pin moves in the block and, if you can, feel the amount of
movement and learn to correlate that amount with a specific pitch change.
With some practice you will be able to move the pin in the block from that
place to your target pitch without any overshoot.  When you release the
pressure on the lever which is both exerting a twisting motion on the pin
and forward press toward the string the net change resulting from that
release of both will be zero and the pitch will stay exactly where it is, or
very close.  In fact, you can learn to do this with some undershoot, where
you hold a slight amount of greater downward flex in the pin such that when
you release it the pitch will rise to your target. That technique and
ability has some benefit in certain cases such as with poorly rendering
pianos.  When you can hone those  skills you will be able to tune directly
to the target pitch with no overshoot or need for correction.  It involves a
somewhat different way of thinking about the lever position, direction of
the applied pressure, pin, string segment, pitch interface.  Your way works
too and, in fact, is often needed when things don't react as planned or
where other factors make the system I'm suggesting more difficult, such as
very tight or snappy tuning pins.  But as a fundamental plan of attack, I
think yours (which I realize represent the traditional approach) is less
direct, requires more moves and therefore takes longer, doesn't work as well
with pianos that don't render well and, as I mentioned in another post, can
contribute to a higher degree of string breakage in pianos that have severe
rendering problems.  It's just an offering of another method.  Do it however
you choose, as I'm sure you will.   
  
David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com



-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 8:33 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Hammer Technique: was Q & A Roundtable

On 2/1/2011 9:52 PM, John Formsma wrote:

> I always overshoot by some amount. But it seems like it's the pin twist
> that _is_ the overshoot.

Yes, of course. And the only way to estimate the back twist with any 
accuracy is with the overshoot, and testing/settling.


>Once you un-twist the pin, you can flex the pin
> to see whether the pin and string are where you want them.

That's it, to see where equilibrium is.


>I tend to
> think of it in these terms: any action I do to the pin can be undone. If
> I move the pin the smallest amount in the block, I can un-twist and/or
> un-flex it to the proper pitch.

And if you can't find the comfortable balance where the pin is, you move 
the pin again.


> It's hard to explain with words. Like you said, we "so rarely do the
> same thing twice in a row."

Yup.
Ron N