<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Don wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid20041203124629.28331.qmail@web50408.mail.yahoo.com"> <pre wrap="">Hi Tom, What might be these ways? </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Since then, I've learned more subtle ways of getting </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap="">the string </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">to move and "self-lubricate" </pre> </blockquote> </blockquote> Don, First of all, I don't drop the pitch nearly as low as a fourth or fifth as I was taught - it causes the string to slip around the hitch pin and I would have to go back and touch up the previous pin every other pin. It might help to polish rust off the bearing surfaces. But usually I bring it flat a little, maybe 10 - 20 cents, and if the pitch drops as soon as I start to move the tuning pin, I have some confidence to bring it up. But if I'm nervous about the strings breaking, due to evidence of previous breakage or extreme age, or I can feel a place where I'm giving it more pull but the pitch is not following, I drop it further than normal and bring it up a couple of times to "lubricate" the bearing points (polish the rust off?). If the rust is on the string at the V-bar point, however, then maybe it's best to run the string around the hitch pin enough to where it's not a problem. Maybe that's why I was taught to do it that way. Another technique I do is something I learned from Jim Coleman. Using an upright piano as an example, put the tuning lever at a 3:00 position and turn the pin by tugging down on the lever. This moves the pin without raising the string tension above the target pitch. Then you can un-flagpole the pin and listen for the pitch to rise. The same idea applies to a grand. Nothing is sure-fire but if these techniques can save, or even delay, a string repair now and then, they're worth doing. Tom Cole </body> </html>