[CAUT] restrung D

[Alan McCoy]

While on this topic. I wonder if there is a slight difference in speaking
length as the string vibrates in its sideways excursion compared to the
speaking length while in its vertical excursion? If there is, would this
give a false beat to the string? If the pin and notch relationship has
become compromised for whatever reason, it might result in such a situation.

Alan


> From: RicB <ricb at pianostemmer.no>
> Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:37:08 +0100
> To: <caut at ptg.org>
> Subject: [CAUT]  restrung D
> 
> Hi Alan
> 
> Since you asked for thoughts, I'll chime in.  You know me well enough by
> now to know my own thinking on loose pins and single string beats is
> somewhat different then Ron Nossamans'. To begin with, of course any
> string seating procedure constitutes a temporary improvement in piano
> sound. It is not a fix whatsoever, at least not in its usual maintenance
> sense. IMHO to suggest that we should not carry out appropriately this
> kind of procedure on the grounds that it is only a <<temporary fix>> is
> essentially tantamount to saying we should not bother tuning because the
> piano will just go out of tune again.
> 
> As to specifics of seating.  I will tap the pin down very slightly only
> if I feel there is a nick (read grove) in the pin that is perhaps
> holding the string slightly off the  bridge surface. I suspect this kind
> of thing when the sound is fuzzy, unfocused... wavering and not
> necessarily a matter of single string beats... which I do not believe
> have much or anything at all to do with a pin that has been pushed up a
> bit for whatever reasons.  I also gently tap the string itself behind
> the pin on the bridge surface itself with a wooden dowel made of a
> reasonably soft wood.  If the string needs seating... these two will do
> the job and do so without exasperating any problem with the notch
> assuming you are careful to be gentle.  But I have no expectations at
> all of relieving any kind of single string beat with any of this.
> 
> Bridge pins of various hardness are available, tho I dont think you are
> going to get around the problem of grooving without causing a new
> problem of string breakage...
> 
> Lastly I have never ever ever seen a piano completely free of single
> string beats. No matter what kind of bridge configuration has been used.
> True enough some are nearly clean of them.... but every piano has them,
> and as a piano gets older they develop more.
> 
> Cheers
> RicB
> 
> 
>     Hi Daniel,
> 
>     Having just returned from the PNWC in SLC and taking a class from Ron
>     Nossman, my understanding of what is happening at the bridge-bridge pin-
>     string interface has been revised yet again. Like many others I was
>     taught
>     to seat the strings by tapping gently on the top of the bridge right
>     at each
>     pin. Then that was revised to tapping the string in front of the bridge
>     sideways toward the string. That was revised to tapping the bridge
>     pin down
>     and not tapping the string down at all. Now however, Ron has presented a
>     compelling argument that tapping the pin down is a temporary fix at best
>     (feel free to jump in here Ron when you get back home from SLC). A
>     couple
>     seasonal humidity shifts later and the pin will have risen back up.
>     Not only
>     that, because the pin is at an angle, over the seasons the string
>     pushes up
>     on the pin and in the process creats an oblong hole at the top of
>     the bridge
>     surface (flagpoling of the pin). Result? False beats. Cure? Quick
>     and dirty:
>     CA glue at side of pin opposite the string. Cure at rebuild? Very hard
>     bridge cap with pins epoxied in, but with the pin not seated in the
>     hole.
>     The concept being that the tight fit of the pin at the surface of
>     the bridge
>     is what counts, not whether the pin is seated at the bottom of the
>     hole. In
>     fact, Ron says, a pin tight at the bottom, but flagpoling by a
>     minute amount
>     at the top is still a source of false beats. So the idea of testing the
>     integrity of bridge pins by giving them a yank and assuming that, if
>     they
>     are tight they are still good, may not be an accurate test.
> 
>     BTW, regarding that nick in the side of the bridge pins (caused by the
>     string digging into it) that was the topic of a thread awhile back.
>     Anyone
>     have any thoughts as to the effects of this nick on tone and tuning? I'm
>     guessing that the effect is negative for both (based on absolutely no
>     experiment!)  But if my guess is correct, would a harder material
>     for bridge
>     pins be a good idea? Bridge pins are probably #2 steel plated with
>     either
>     copper or nickel, and nickel is harder than copper, right?
> 
>     Talk about long-winded.
> 
>     Thoughts anyone?
> 
>     Alan
> 
>     -- Alan McCoy, RPT
>     Eastern Washington University
>     amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
>     509-359-4627
>     -- 
>