Capo Bar Dressing

[Ron Torrella]

On Mon, 14 Nov 1994, Michael Wathen 556-9565 wrote:

> The type of zinger that results from poor termination at the capo bar is
> immediately detectable.  Place a finger in the duplex portion of the
> string and it will dissappear.  The tone will also be noticeably duller.
> No hammer voicing here.

On the contrary, the problem you describe as "zinging"--at least as it
been manifests itself to me--seems to have more to do with voicing than
the shape of the capo bar.  I, too, once thought the capo bar (ie. poor
termination) was the problem, but no amount of dressing and redressing the
capo bar worked for me.  Frustrating, too!  Especially when you're in the
customer's house and they're watching everything you do (out of curiosity)
and asking questions.  Nothing is more demoralizing than, after
explaining what you're doing and why you're doing it, the expected result
isn't achieved.

Without trying to sound like an advertisement--rather giving credit where
it's due--I found what I think is the answer to the "zing enigma" in Rick
Baldassin's publication, _Voicing The Renner Hammer_ [Renner USA, 1992].
(It comes with every set of Renner hammers.) Rick does a thorough job of
covering what voicing entails and one of the entries is "Noise in Capo
Section"-- which is what I think we've been referring to as "zing."
Following is what Rick has to say:

       "Noise in Capo Section - This is most noticeable in the first capo
      section.  Play a note in this section, then mute out the front
      duplex segment while playing.  If there is an objectionalble tone
      which goes away when this front duplex segment is muted, then
      deep needling higher in the shoulder is required.  Do not permanently
      mute this front duplex section as this will cause a substantial
      loss of power.  Deep needle from 10:30 to no higher than 11:30,
      and from 1:30 to no higher than 12:30, to the full extent of the
      needles.  Be sure that the needles are aimed toward the two points*
      to the side of the molding, thus preserving the triagle-shaped area
      under the crown in which we do not needle.  We would suggest you
      proceed very carefully here, one stitch at a time, and do as little as
      possible, as too much needling in this area will reduce power.

[*Roughly halfway between the tip of the molding and the bottom of the
hammerfelt shoulder and halfway between the center of the molding and the
outside of the hammerfelt shoulder--_two_ points.]

I have used this method of eliminating that "zing" successfully (knock on
wood) for the last six months.  While there _may_ be some merit to the
speculation that the shape of the capo bar has bearing (sorry about the
pun) on capo section "zinging,"  my decidedly unscientific experience
shows that eliminating that "zing" requires hammer voicing.  That's *not*
to say that one shouldn't bother to reshape the capo bar.  I think the
condition of the capo bar is quite important in good tone production/
duration as well as a decreased likelihood of string breakage.

BTW:  Among the methods espoused by Phil Sloffer, the screw driver idea
(leaves burrs on capo bar) and rubbing the strings forth and back on the
capo bar (the grooves do a nice job of marring the string) are probably the
best recipes to broken strings!  I've not had good luck trying to pull
strings around the hitchpin without winding up having to contend with
false beating strings.  That was one of Jorgensen's "quick fixes for the
amatuer piano tuner."  (His words.)

Ron Torrella                        "Dese are de conditions dat prevail."
School of Music                     --Jimmy Durante
University of Illinois