Tuning stability

[Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)]

Marc,

I basically do your steps 1 & 2 while I'm stringing and don't do any
bending/seating until I have it to pitch. I've re-strung many, many pianos
and have never had any problems pulling 50 cents over. Straightening the
bends on all the non-speaking segments and using the Strate-Mate on the capo
bends (when at pitch, of course) gives very fast, precise results. I've
always wondered where all those bends go every summer when the pianos go 20
- 30 cents sharp and in the winter when they go that flat. Everyone with
sore backs from leveling strings should check out this Strate-Mate
contraption.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Wolfley
Head Piano Technician
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Mark Cramer [mailto:Cramer@BrandonU.CA] 
Sent:	Thursday, April 01, 2004 9:53 AM
To:	College and University Technicians
Subject:	RE: Tuning stability

50 cents? Wow!

I've been afraid to do my string-work at anything above A:440;

1. pull to tension / lift coils squeeze beckets

2. pull to 440 / seat & squeeze loops parralel

3. pull to 440 / straighten wire over the bridge fore & aft / burnish it
down over the rear duplex

4. pull to 440 / lift wire at agraffes and speaking length/capo, then front
duplex

I'm just worried about having those bends occur other than at the
terminations.

I gather you guys are saying:

1.) there's no harm in pulling the strings (initially) that high?

2.) you're acheiving precise results?

3.) you're saving a boat-load of time?

thanks,
Mark Cramer,
Brandon University







-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
Wolfley, Eric (wolfleel)
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:17 PM
To: 'College and University Technicians'
Subject: RE: Tuning stability


While on this subject...Pianotek has re-introduced the Acousticraft
Strate-Mate (sic) and I highly recommend it for anyone doing this type of
restringing work. Last week during spring break I restrung the 2 capo
sections of one of our Steinway Bs which is onstage one of our small recital
halls and as of today I feel it is stable enough to be used in recital. I do
all the positive bends that Fred mentions and concur with his experience as
to much faster stabilization. The Strate-Mate takes it one step further in
stretching the strings as well as leveling and straightening the "slow bend"
over the capo bar. I over pulled 50 cents on the first chipping, Strate-
Mated it, used the pitch-raise mode on the Cybertuner on the second pull and
it is holding very well at pitch now after one fine-tune pass. The other
benefit is in the leveling...I gang-filed the (new) hammers and didn't have
to do any extra mating on even one hammer. They were all "spot on" as some
say. This has never happened for me before and says a lot for carefully
traveling shanks before installing hammers and then checking them again
after they are on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Wolfley
Head Piano Technician
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Fred Sturm [mailto:fssturm@unm.edu]
Sent:	Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:45 PM
To:	College and University Technicians
Subject:	RE: Tuning stability

--On Monday, March 29, 2004 11:09 PM +0200 Isaac OLEG <oleg-i@noos.fr>
wrote:

> Fred, I believe that if you warm the string rubbing them with a piece
> of wood , you'll get a very fast stabilisation, and you can avoid to
> bend them, bend can take place later I guess, is not it better?

Isaac,
	My experience tells me that I should make the positive bends in the
wire
soon after installing it for two reasons:
	First, this will stabilize pitch faster. My sense is that the
process of
the wire "making the bends itself" over time is a very large proportion of
the cause for pitch drop of new wire. On new pianos from the factory, for
instance, I find that heavy pounding can drop pitch by 50 cents or more.
Not true of pianos I have restrung and made those positive bends. I
interpret that to mean that the pounding is largely helping to create those
bends.
	Second, the tone becomes much clearer, with a less "fuzzy" pitch.
This
difference is pretty readily apparent. Pull to pitch without making bends
and listen. Make bends and pull to pitch, and listen.
	I do like to make sure pitch is as close to standard as possible
when
making the bends. Hence, 25 cents sharp before making the bends from bridge
to hitch pin. Making the bends lowers pitch by 25 cents or a bit more. So I
pull sharp again before making the front bends, which leaves the string
close to pitch.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico





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