[pianotech] 8th grade education

[Ron Nossaman]

On 12/4/2012 8:55 PM, Marshall Gisondi wrote:

> Speaking of pianos now, have any of you ever found the last two or three
> bichord strings in the tennor problematic when striving for a clean
> crisp unison?

Typically, it's the last two or three plain wire trichords that are very 
difficult to tune and not stable. That's a scaling problem, with the 
breaking percent too low. The speaking length needed to be longer but 
that wouldn't fit in the case. If they are wrapped bichords, it could be 
anything.

>I know much is said about hammer control, but is there
> ever a possibility that some tuning levers are inferior to others or
> does tuning strictly have to do with hammer control period no matter how
> expensive or inexpensive of a hammer one uses?  Is all of this talk
> about different levers a matter of preference?

If there were one universally ideal hammer, there wouldn't be so many 
different ones on the market. Yes, it's a matter of preference and 
perception.

>I have the schaff 21c
> lever and I bought the universal head and tip that are one unit because
> I needed a better head for clearing plate struts in grands when tuning,
> but for whatever reason the new head doesn't screw on tight.

It's a pipe thread, which is tapered so the threads tighten securely. 
When the lever shank is threaded too deep, it bottoms out in the head 
and doesn't tighten well. So it gets loose and eventually chews up the 
threads so you can't get it off. The cure, if you can get it apart and 
the threads aren't totally trashed, is to grind some off the end of the 
shank so the threads tighten like they are intended to without bottoming 
out in the head. Then crank it down and leave it there. If you leave it 
loose enough to change frequently, it will continue to be a problem. 
Make it permanent, and it will stay tight until you wear out or break 
the tip. I've tried the single head/tip combination and found that one 
wore quickly and two broke. I now use a 1-1/2" head with a 1" Watanabe 
#2 tip, which I've used for something like six years now with a shop 
made hammer. Best setup I've ever used, including a couple of old Hale 
extension hammers that I'd used before. I've used a total 2-1/2" 
head/tip combination of some sort for many years and have only run into 
one, maybe two pianos I couldn't tune with it because of plate strut 
clearance. Haven't tuned a Julius Bauer yet though, and that might do it.


>Also what have you found that works when tuning
> grands in the treble section where the rim and often the lid support get
> in the way and you have to get in a twisted position in order to tune up
> there.

I stand up and position as necessary to make it work. That's the job.
Ron N