Re Tun. Stab. and Tendoniti

[Kenneth Sloane]

                      Subject:                              Time:  5:57 PM
  OFFICE MEMO         Re Tun. Stab. and Tendonitis          Date:  2/6/96

--------------ORIGINAL POST--------------

I have been watching this thread, (or is it about to become a fuse?), with
slack-jawed amazement;

..Here at Oberlin, we
>quantitate test blows on the "Strichter Scale" of one to five, with number
>five test blows being necessary to stabililize a piano for a weekend Liszt
>festival. On our concert pianos, our motto is, "If you aren't committed to
>stabilizing it, don't change it." Also, if you haven't broken strings
>occasionally with test blows, you haven't reached grade five on the
"Strichter
>Scale".
>
>Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory

Ken,  I have to respectfully disagree with the above statement.

       The amount of wear on the instrument, and on the left elbow, from
hammering the strings down to pitch is not, (IMHO), necessary.
       The problem of anchoring the speaking length can be dealt with by the
use of the tuning hammer, but requires extreme attention to the process at
hand.
       Many years ago, Jack Sprinkle told me, that if you can knock a string
into tune, then you can also knock it out.  I was not sure I agreed with him,
but at the time I was a greenhorn, fresh out of school, where I often watched
a master of the trade tune.  There was an approach taught us that emphasized
finesse in the right hand to place the appropriate tension in the various
parts of the wire.  When finished, the note was hit quite hard once to test
the stability, but pounding it in was discouraged.
      I have learned that the concert stage is very forgiving of tuning when
compared to a recording studio.  Whereas 1 cent drift in a unison, or two
cents in an octave,  is  difficult to hear from the audience,  that same
amount, in a studio,( with a producer spending huge amounts of money), will
get you a call back in a hurry. The number of call-backs is directly related
to how much you can charge for your services.

      As age afflicts some of us, (tendonitis), the importance of skillful
manipulation of the hammer grows, and I would encourage anybody to constantly
work to improve their hammer technique.
     Yes, I have seen incredibly stable tunings done by techs pounding the
strings into tune, but I have also seen the same results from a very
different approach, which I feel is kinder to the body and instrument.

regards to all
Ed Foote

----------------REPLY----------------

Ed- I couldn't agree with you more. I have long been a proponent of using good
hammer technique to stabilize a piano as opposed to "pounding them in" if for
no other reason than to save your body. As the name implies, strong "test
blows" should be used just for that -- i.e. to test the stability of a note. I
would argue, however, that some notes need to be tuned with forceful blows
while putting tension on the string. I am sure this is a funtion of friction
at bearing points and stuff like that. However, a good concert tech knows
immediately when he/she has encountered such a string and reacts accordingly.
And if you have tuned enough concert pianos, you know what sections of the
piano they will likely be in. So the moral of the story is to take it easy
while you tune but be ready to test your end result.

Ken Sloane, Oberlin Conservatory