<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later (in this case later!), an 1890 screwstringer upright. The owner dearly loves the tone, in spite of its original condition, and it just needs to be tuned. Never having accomplished such a feat, I was at a loss to tune or stabilize the tuning, in spite of the instructions on the tuning key holder (Tuning is accomplished by approaching from below, and Whanging on the key makes it go sharp - words to that effect). The strings weren't especially rusty, just a little dark. I applied Liquid Wrench to the bearing points, dropped the pitch and brought it above pitch to gain some lubricity but, alas, not much help. After 1-1/2 hours of twisting and whanging, I got about an octave's worth to sound like they needed to be tuned. Reminds me of an old Studebaker I drove once that had a huge amount of play in the steering gear. It was uncontrollable. Is there any way to tune this thing? I thought of reducing the offset at the "V" bar by backing off on the pressure bar screws to reduce friction. But how much? Is that advisable? Tom Cole </body> </html>