<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16608" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"></FONT><BR><<I agree with you completly Phil, there is no such thing as "pounding too hard" unless you are breaking keys regularly!>></DIV> <DIV>(from a previous post; lost track of the author)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">I have to disagree with this.  There is such a thing as pounding too hard.  I used to pound really hard, and would occasionally break key sticks and strings, although many times, the keys had a weak spot in the grain, usually at the balance pin hole, and the strings were OK but the hammers were too hard.  Anyway, I would frequently find my tunings sharp when doing my final check, even tho' they were "right on" with the SAT as I was tuning, doing unisons as I went.  I asked the list about this, and someone replied that too-hard test blows can cause strings to drift sharp.  I have since lightened up my key pounding and have almost no incidence of tunings drifting sharp.  I haven't changed my tuning style in any other aspect, so I think that was it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">    --David Nereson, RPT</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face="Arial Narrow"> <DIV><BR></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman">And pounding hard too often leaves you with strings creeping <BR>sharp when you quit, particularly when you're lowering pitch.<BR><BR>Ron N</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow">Or raising pitch.  Doesn't seem to matter, in my experience.  --D.N.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial Narrow"></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>