Don't remember who it was, but someone mentioned hand pain recently. I'm wearing a splint on my right wrist. People ask about it, & I just tell them it's 30 years of piano tuning........& 30 seconds of Judo! The tuning has been wearing things out, but the Judo kicked it over the edge. It was kind of a freak accident where I had my elbow on the mat & about 200# landed on my closed fist, hyper-extending it. I could feel things tearing. Nothing broken, & things seemed to have healed somewhat, but I think everything just got re-arranged a bit from the elbow on down, which makes for real pain with repetitive motions in certain positions -- like tuning. Nothing can be done, surgically, so I have to live with it; at least until things settle down. It has made me have to reconsider all my movements & try to find different ways of doing things. An occupational therapist who specializes in wrists has helped in the process. One thing that has helped has been the purchase of a Super-tube tuning hammer from Steve Fujan. With the big tube they look unusual, but they are very light & very stiff & the handle is very ergonomic. You can choose from different tip angles & get various lengths of tube for better leverage. I find the best results with the 2 shorter tubes that give a hammer length of 10.5" & 13". You really can feel every movement of the pin because of the stiffness. It takes a bit of getting used to, but well balanced & light, making it a comfortable lever to use. I've had to give up the stubby extension lever I developed for Schaff (7.5"), though I still use it occasionally in the high treble. It just takes too much force to move the pin with that short lever, given the condition of my wrist. Much to my chagrin, I have also had to lay the impact hammer by for the moment, since that motion aggravates the problem, though I may go back to it after modifying the handle somewhat for a larger grip surface. I find that my vertical tunings seem to be a bit less stable now that I have had to abandon the impact hammer. The larger muscle groups seem to have a bit less control -- or maybe I've just gotten spoiled & have to re-learn the vertical tuning game! It would be interesting to hear what other "vintage" techs have experienced along this line. Like I say, the diagnosis is "degenerative joint disease", so it's been in the process for a long time, but the Judo just kicked it over the edge....A pity too. It was lots of fun, & I was just getting decent enough to kick some serious poste-rear-iours! :-) Otto
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