<br><br> <div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/21/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Joe And Penny Goss</b> <<a href="mailto:imatunr@srvinet.com">imatunr@srvinet.com</a>> wrote:</span> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> <div bgcolor="#ffffff"> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi Matthew,</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">There is another irritant for me, the strip in your case is too thin.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">My pet peeve is when the strip is too thick and moves the  strings</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">out of place closer to the center string. resulting in the hammer hitting</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">on a different spot and causing the extra work of string spacing.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">My solution was to ditch the strip mutes and ( using a SAT, Verituner )</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">use a split rubber mute, the one with the flex steel handle.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">This was the only mute that I used for years until a few years ago </font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">when I started using a felt mute ( the ones that are tapered and 1" wide)</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">On grands only. I still need to use the split mute on the B 7 and C 8</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">as the hammers are blocked by the 1" wide mute.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">One must trim the split mute that you get from supply houses</font><font face="Arial" size="2"> </font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">as the tips are too thick to thick and wide at the tip for me.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Rubber wedge on all wrapped strings and the split </font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">on the rest of the piano for this kid <G></font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2">Now I do not carry a bundle of felt any more just small pieces for repair.</font></div> <div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div> <div> </div> <div>Joe Goss RPT<br>Mother Goose Tools<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:imatunr@srvinet.com" target="_blank">imatunr@srvinet.com</a><br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.mothergoosetools.com/" target="_blank"> www.mothergoosetools.com</a></div> <div><span class="e" id="q_1148be63e4d1401a_1"> <blockquote style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </div> <div style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial"><b>From:</b> <a title="toddpianoworks@yahoo.com" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:toddpianoworks@yahoo.com" target="_blank">Matthew Todd </a> </div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="pianotech@ptg.org" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org" target="_blank">pianotech@ptg.org</a> </div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, August 21, 2007 10:03 PM</div> <div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>Subject:</b> Temperament Strips</div> <div><br> </div> <div>These two questions have been on my mind, and I would like to know your opinions.</div> <div> </div> <div>In regards to strip muting the treble section where the strings are shorter.  So the hammers strike the strings, is it okay to move the strip carefully down behind the dampers?  I am always concerned about ruining the felt.  If I make the loops in my strip as small as possible, would this practice be okay?  Then if I made the loops too small, the temperament strip would actually mute all three of the strings instead.  Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. </div> <div> </div> <div>The second question is this:</div> <div> </div> <div>How do you all deal with strings "bleeding" through the mutes?  It has become an annoyance of mine lately.  Some a lot more subtle than others, but still the same regardless.  I even get some "bleeding" between strings that are not that far off at all. </div> <div> </div> <div>Thanks in advance!<br>Matthew</div> <p> <hr size="1"> Shape Yahoo! in your own image. <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48517/*http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7" target="_blank">Join our Network Research Panel today! </a> <p></p></p></blockquote></span></div></div></blockquote></div> <div>Hi Mathew,</div> <div>I used to strip mute the whole piano but found it to be a nuisance. I use  a tempermant strip to strip the entire center section to the break. I prefer the thin firm ones, I find they mute better without displacing unisons from their position. I then use several rubber mutes w/wire handles to mute most of the dampered section just above the break. I have been tuning for 38 years and have saved wire handles and used them in the little 1/4 X 2&9/16 mutes to better fit them between hammers and bearing bar. I use a piece of backrail cloth, split into an inch wide strip to mute the bass. After I get past the dampers I work my way up the treble using 3 mutes at a time tuning 2 notes, center string of each then outside string, upper string first, then lower, of each moving my mutes up to the next set of 2 notes as I go. I tune the two "inside" strings last moving that last mute that was in the center of the 2 notes to the outside of the lowest note to be tuned next. I wear the earplugs that Pianotek sells the 20db ones, I find they help cut the ambient noise found in most homes, furnaces/AC, TV's and radios/stereos, kids playing outside or in, dad mowing the lawn, mom doing the wash, the chiming clocks, the refrigerator running and the myriad other things that can be an irritant when you're tuning. Actually my concentration is pretty good, I can usually ignore those things I mentioned, I just decided I wanted to still be able to enjoy hearing things without artificial assistance when I get older. If I keep tuning without protection I wouldn't be able to. You may have guessed by now that I'm a dinosaur, I still aural tune, I have no electronic means, just an A fork. I mean to change that soon but for now I still tune with my ear and the earplugs do help you hear what you need to hear better, quieting down the "garbage" you find in many verticals. If you wish to continue the practice of stripping the entire piano, I see no harm in sliding your strip down behind the dampers, it's what I did. Just lift them first as far back as you can without bending them and make your loops just large enough that they don't touch that center string but instead hold the damper up. You will of course have more sympathetic "ring" from those undamped strings that you will have to deal with. You canget some satisfactory earplugs from the drugstore until you can get the good ones from Pianotek. </div> <div> </div> <div>Mike  <br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Michael Magness<br>Magness Piano Service<br>608-786-4404<br><a href="http://www.IFixPianos.com">www.IFixPianos.com</a><br>email <a href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com">mike@ifixpianos.com </a> </div>