leftie vs. rightie

[Owen J Greyling, RPT]

>Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 14:40:15
>To: Pianotech
>From: "Owen J Greyling, RPT" <greyco@adan.kingston.net>
>Subject: leftie vs. rightie
>
>Dear List, I write this post with some apprehension, not wanting to open a
can of worms, or bore many seasoned professionals with a topic that may be
better handled elsewhere. Kindly use your delete button or trash can if this
subject is of no interest to you...
>       I have been tuning for over twenty years and consider myself to be a
decent tuner, not the best around high pressure work, but given a
serviceable instrument, enough time and enough tunings I have found it
possible to produce accurate and stable pianos. I, like you, do this day in
and day out with many satisfied and regular customers...BUT...most of my
customers own vertical pianos, at least ninety percent of them do. 
>       When learning to tune I was taught by a man who gave me Dr. Stevens
book(no flames please!),an old tube strobe,a few tools, an hour's
instuction, and the advice to use my left hand on the tuning thingy. He
pointed me towards some old decrepid, pin-doped vertical hunk of land fill
and left (with His book and newer Conn strobe), to go tune a piana. Don't
get me wrong here, My teacher was a wonderful man who gave me the
opportunity to follow my dreams..He just never mastered the art of
temperament or tuning stability. Tuning consisted of a strobe generated
middle section and octaves, no tests, checks or anything else..time
needed-usually two and a half hours.
>       In my first few years as a student of piano technology, the only
grand pianos that I saw, were the worn out, untuneable, sometimes unplayable
treasures in the huge waterside homes down on King St. I could'nt understand
why on earth these homes with so much money around had such horrible big
flat pianos in them. Why did'nt they just get good old upright pianos that I
could (I thought at the time) at least tune? My teacher answered my honest
questions with...Oh it takes years of experience to master the tuning of
grand pianos. I very quickly learned to dread trying to do anything with
those pianos that the better musicians and teachers had.
>       By the time I was rescued from this situation by the formation of a
new chapter of the Piano Technician's Guild, about two hours drive away, I
was about ready to throw in the towel. You can not imagine how good it was
to finally be in a room, with warm friendly gentlemen piano technicians, who
practically bent over backwards to help me. Bob Smit, a former treasurer of
the Guild, took the time to show me tuning checks, where to listen, and
different size octaves. What a revelation...NOTHING was going to keep me
from attending chapter meetings. I can count on one hand the chapter
meetings I have missed in the last seventeen years, all because these guys,
with knowlege were willing to share with me. As you can probably tell, I am
thankful for The Piano Technician's Guild and for this list and am a firm
believer in the brotherhood & sisterhood of like minded piano people.
>      Wow..enough history already, I did'nt know I had all that lurking in
the corners of my shop, never mind the shadows of my mind...Sorry.
>      Finally.....The Question. During the last few months I've decided to
upgrade my skills on the dreaded grand piano, and have come across a bit of
a conundrum. When tuning a vertical piano I tune with my left hand on the
tuning hammer.I have developed the ability to usually be able to feel
exactly what the pin is doing and at what stage I am at, when it comes to
setting the pin. I work with the hammer at a 12:00-1:00 o'clock position,
using a slight downward pressure on the hammer to seat the pin in the bottom
of the hole. Once the pin is solidly against the fibres of the bottom of the
hole I usually use a slight impact motion to move the string slighly above
where the pitch will end up. A slight backwards (towards 11;00 o'clock)and
downwards pressure produces for me, a properly tuned and stable note. I have
become very comfortable with this way of tuning. It makes sense to me to
always keep the pin towards the bottom of the hole keeping in mind that the
string is also pulling in this direction. Now when I try to apply the skill
and feel developed with vertical pianos to grand pianos, I just can't
contort my body into a comfortable postion to enable me to use these very
same principals. What I have done for years is to tune left-handed using as
long a tip as necessary to clear the stretcher, with the hammer at 5:00-6:00
o'clock. To truly have the hammer in what I feel is the best position the
hammer should be at 6:00-7:00 o'clock, but that puts way to much pressure on
the wrist, and the comfortable familiar contol of the hammer just isn't there.
>      For the past couple of weeks I have been using my right hand on the
hammer when tuning grand pianos, placed on the pin at from 12:30-3:00
position (hammer pointing to tail of piano).This I can only do for the first
time through, then I finish up with my left hand (tuning complaints dont
seem like a good idea). I do find that raising the pitch of a string with my
right hand seems to take the pin off of the fibres of the back of the hole,
thus causing a greater change in pitch when I push the hammer toward the
tail of the piano to set the pin. I see many other very fine tuners working
this way and they seem to produce good results.SO DOES WORKING WITH THE
RIGHT HAND ON THE TUNING HAMMER DEMAND THAT THERE MUST ALWAYS BE MORE
FLAGPOLLING OF THE PIN IN A GRAND PIANO THEN WORKING WITH THE LEFT HAND ON A
VERTICAL PIANO. Or do I need a few more years of practice to get used to
this different feel? Is this a good idea?
>      To finish this very long and possibly silly post, Please don't be
offended by my rightie vs. leftie question, I don't wish to insult or
question anybodys ability, my desire is to truly become a better piano
technician. Any and all return posts, gratefully accepted.
>

                     Owen J. Greyling, RPT