hard pounding

[David ilvedson]

> Date:          Sat, 11 Apr 1998 23:58:42 -0400
> To:            pianotech@ptg.org
> From:          Bill Ballard <yardbird@sover.net>
> Subject:       Re: hard pounding
> Reply-to:      pianotech@ptg.org

I guess I have to ask what is a "bump"?  For me a bump sounds 
like an imprecise technique.  I will use light to 
increasing pressure or torque on a pin in both directions to 
determine if the pin is set.  This is a very good way for new 
tuners to get a feel for the tuning pin.  In tuning I actually 
do this all the time but it is on "auto-pilot"   My tuning style 
is a sort of "dynamic impact" technique in that I increase my 
"controlled jerking" of the tuning (hammer at nearly 12:00) from 
zero pressure to whatever it takes to move the pin if moving the 
pin is necessary.  As I have mentioned before often just some 
dynamic pressure and a judicious key stroke will be what is 
needed. The "dynamic impact" with the hammer on the tuning 
pin means it is changing constantly.  I may be impacting back 
and forth with the hammer, no not turning the pin in the block 
back and forth which is a good way to instability, but 
torqueing back and forth, or I might only be impacting one 
direction until it is where I want it.  Some notes require more 
fussing than others.  I aim for as little fussing as possible.  
To try to put in words how one uses his tuning hammer is very 
hard indeed.  If one was to slowly pull on the tuning hammer, 
increasing the pressure, eventually the pin will move and the 
pitch will change but for me there is no control and no idea 
where your at.  What I try to do is the very same thing but with 
the safety valve of the controlled impacting/jerking of the 
hammer.  Each impact is getting stronger but you can feel what 
the tuning pin is doing and the pitch isn't necessarily changing 
a lot.  I say "isn't necessarily changing" because sometimes 
you can't controll the pitch when trying to move the pin.  This 
is especially helpful on really tight pins but not always.

Way more than 2 cents worth...





> Richard Moody wrote:
> >  It involves the "bumping up and down "
> >of the tuning pin Bill Ballard mentions.
> >        In a nutshell, if the pin is bumped up and no change  happens, the
> >string
> >is not rendering.  That means no matter what you do, for that particular
> >string, sooner or later a hard blow will dislodge it.  Hopefully it will
> >be later depending on what you do.
> 
> I'd hate to be left with that kind of uncertainty. It's similar to reading
> action resistance by downweight alone, and having no idea what part
> friction and mass each play in that reading. You gotta bump (equally, too)
> in both directions (won't work in just one direction). Bump it up and
> notice the change. Bump it down and notice the change. If the two changes
> are equal then the string is equally ready (or equally less willing)t o go
> out in both directions. That's a the response of a string and tuning pin
> well-relieved of tension differentials and torsion (respectively). Like the
> beer commercial says, "It doesn't get any better than this."
> 
> Unfortunately, the higher string friction is, the more of a bump is
> required. When string friction meets tuning pin friction these bumps (and
> there size) actually become part of the problem in tuning stability. When
> string friction is higher than tuning friction, all bets are off and your
> only consolation is to be able to slug the piano.
> 
> Bill Ballard, RPT
> New Hampshire Chapter, PTG
> 
> "Out here on the food chain, you either
>    diet,die, or dine"
>  .......folksinger Mark Graham
> 
> 
> 
> 
ilvey
Pacifica, CA
ilvey@a.crl.com