leftie vs. rightie

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	Tom,

	These are excellent suggestions on Hammer Technique.
	When a leftie tunes a grand holding the hammer at the 9 o'clock
position (his belly button is 6 o'clock), the effect including
flagpolling, overpull etc, is the same as tuning an upright with the
hammer at the 3 o'clock position.
	I know I am an oddball about this but there are advantages to
tuning while standing up. On a grand, you can move around the end of the
piano and use the hammer at the 10 or 11 o'clock position.
	I have a bad case of TB (Tender Bum) and sitting down hurts me too
much. Thankfully, my back doesn't complain much and tunings go well.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta
	

On Fri, 28 Nov 1997, Tom Cole wrote:

> 
> Owen J Greyling, RPT wrote:
> > 
> > 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?
> 
> Owen,
> 
> Tuning a grand piano right-handed does seem to be the dominant method,
> not ever having witnessed a leftie approach. Except I know one person
> who tunes right-handed until he gets up somewhere in the top octave
> where interference with the rim and lid stick causes him to change to
> tuning left-handed. I thought I'd try this once, thinking that I'm
> somewhat ambidexterous. It would be a neat way to tune when the right
> side of a piano is against a wall, I thought. But, no way, it was like
> starting over. I just didn't have near enough control to achieve even a
> reasonable tuning. And control is what you need on those short strings!
> 
> I tune grand pianos with a long tip because I end up changing to one in
> the top octave. With the tuning hammer pointing at approx 1:00, I can
> minimize the flagpolling if I want (side-to-side flagpolling I don't
> consider a significant factor in tuning or stability). I've also tuned
> with a long tip and the hammer pointing at 2:00 or 3:00 with good
> results (more overshoot and undershoot to achieve stability, though, and
> therefore a problem where strings are brittle). This latter position is
> a technique I use more for pitch raises than concert tunings but it's a
> little easier on the anatomy. I can sit facing the keyboard whereas,
> with the hammer pointing toward the tail, I need to face toward the bass
> end to minimize strain.
> 
> So, I wouldn't worry about your technique. If the method you use gets
> the job done well and doesn't cause back problems or repetitive stress
> injuries, that's the right (or left) method. If I had my druthers, I
> would tune both ways on any given piano so that stresses would be
> somewhat equalized. Whenever I have my body worked on, people notice
> that I'm more tense on one side than the other - more tense on the
> _left_ side.
> 
> Also, I wouldn't worry about flagpolling so much. Beginners are told to
> not do it, that they should only _turn_ the pin. But, in fact, we can't
> help but bend it. It is important, however, to feel the differences
> between, and experiment with, pin bending, turning and twisting when in
> the process of setting the pin. All three factors can play a part in a
> stable tuning.
> 
> Tom
> -- 
> Thomas A. Cole RPT
> Santa Cruz, CA
> 
> 
>