<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html style="font-size: x-small; font-family: MS Sans Serif"> <head> <title>RE: Tuning lever length</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"/> </head> <body> <p>My Macassar Ebony Faulk hammer is 10 inches long.   I haven't really tried a lot of different length hammers so I don't have a good reason for the 10 inches.  I like it.   I'm a jerk, I prefer to call it dynamic impact, as in I begin with light pressures and it may increase as I feel what is going on with the pin...this technique is really all over the place with changes...it certainly has times of just low torque on the pin and key action...what I like is the fluidity....coaxing the pin, and of course when fine tuning really little or no pin movement at all...</p> <p>I don't really understand the smooth pull technique...I've tried to do it many times to get a feel for it, but how do you know when the pin is going to move?   With impacts I know the pin/tension is going change in tiny increments...Is it steady pressure starting lightly and increasing until the pin moves or the pitch changes...?    I don't get it...</p> <p>David Ilvedson, RPT<br/>Pacifica, CA 94044<br/><br/></p> <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; border-left: #000000 3px solid; padding-top: 5px"> <hr/>Original message<br/>From: "Bruce Dornfeld" <bdornfeld@earthlink.net> </bdornfeld@earthlink.net><br/>To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org> </pianotech@ptg.org><br/>Received: 2/22/2008 8:55:18 PM<br/>Subject: Tuning lever length<br/><br/> <p> </p> <div align="left">The discussion of the new CF carbon fiber levers brings to mind a subject that I cannot remember seeing on pianotech.  How long of a tuning lever works best for your basic tuning technique?   A couple of years ago I gave a technical session for our chapter called "If I had The Hammer".  It was a survey of the numerous tuning levers that can be purchased today as well as modifications that can be made.  One observation I made is one that you, with your input to the list, can help us all understand better.  I believe that tuners who use a smooth hammer technique prefer a longer lever and that tuners who use a jerk or impact technique benefit from a shorter lever.</div> <div> </div> <div>I have been using a jerk or impact technique for at least twenty five years now.  I have gone through many tuning levers.  I started with the long extension lever at 11 1/2 inches, but quickly changed to the shorter 10 inch one.  The first Fujan lever I tried, in his early days, felt to me like walking on stilts.  It might have been 15 inches long or longer, but I'm not sure about that.  I currently use a Charles Falk lever that is 8 3/4 inches long and it has worked great for me for several years or more.  But I think that's because I'm a jerk.  I had a Jahn Pear handle hammer for a while.  It was a nice light weight, but at 11 inches overall, it was just too long for me.  I gave it to Robert Guenther, a CTE for our chapter, to try and he bought it from me.  It has been his main lever for at least a couple of years now.  Robert is a smoothie.  That is, he uses a smooth or steady pull technique t! o tune.</div> <div> </div> <div>Most of you know if you are jerks or smoothies.  What length tuning lever works best for your technique?  </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div>Bruce Dornfeld, RPT  Jerk Tuner</div> <div><a href="mailto:bdornfeld@earthlink.net">bdornfeld@earthlink.net</a></div> <div>North Shore Chapter</div> <div> </div> <p> </p> </div> </body> </html>