Was Re: Coil tapping

[Gregory Torres]

Jim,

I see a lot of new pianos with coils higher on one side of the pin than the
other which when tapped down the pitch drops dramatically. New Samick grands
in particular seem to suffer from this.(not a put-down folks-just an
observation-flame suit is ready :-) I do not get in the habit of tapping them
down as this would create a floor tuning nightmare. But when I restring or
loosen a set of dead bass strings to "liven" up I always use a stringing hook
to pull the coils tight and after pulling up to pitch tap them down with the
impact coil tightener. Then I pull them up to pitch  again and it is amazing
how stable they are after that.  In this case I also tap the bass string loops
down to the plate.

Jim Coleman, Sr. wrote:

> To All:
>
> Coil tapping is usually taken care of at the factory. All good rebuilders
> do this routinely because they know that this will save them several
> rough tunings. The technician in the field should not have to do any
> additional coil tapping on well made pianos.
>
> I have a 25 year old Baldwin SF10. I lightly tapped two pin coils. Nothing
> changed pitchwise. Perhaps there might be some change on a very new piano
> but I don't have one available just now.
>
> Jim Coleman, Sr.
>
> PS Of course if I tapped it hard enough to drive the pin or break the
> beckett, I might possibly be recording a different story here. Just
> remember, if a little downbearing is good, is a lot of bearing better?
> No way Jose! (sorry, I didn't know how to put an accent over the e).