Hammer techniques

[Billbrpt]

In a message dated 98-04-15 12:52:58 EDT, you write:

<< > Use Jim Coleman's strip muting techniques (throughout the whole piano).  
 
>Could you explain why strip muting the piano would help in 
 tuning this particular piano? >

There is a lot of argument about the use of strip mutes but I use them all the
time.  I learned it from Jim Coleman and George Defebaugh.  I personally think
that it helps spread the new tension of a pitch change tuning over the piano
more evenly 
(especially if you tune in whole steps the way I learned from Jim), and thus
you get better stability but I cannot prove this theory.

If anything, in the case of a piano which is more difficult and tedious than
average, as the Steinway 1098 reportedly is, it helps you tune to the end of
the section in a more smooth and rhythmic fashion.  This will be much easier
on you than poking that little mute in there for every string and tediously
fighting with every unison.  

There are some pianos which have great stability problems and terrible false
beats.  The strip allows you to do what is reasonably possible without fatigue
and frustration.  It allows you to "tune twice with ease much faster than you
can fight with it once".
 
 >Don't overshoot as much on a pitch raise as with other pianos 
 (10%). 
 
 >Is this because on the 1098 and the F it will often will go 
 >sharp instead of flat with a pitch raise?  Have you ever noticed 
 >that it will often go flat instead of sharp with a pitch lower?  
 
The answer is yes to both questions.  There are others on the List who have
provided the reasons why this happens.  The important thing to know is that
with this particular piano, you don't need to over or under shoot your ideal
pitch as much as with most others.  Pitch raise programs are not fine tunings.
They are intended to get you where you need to be in order to do a fine
tuning.  There will be many pianos, especially in the treble and high treble
where the pitch raise program will not be adequate.  You will have to do
another pass in order to get the instrument stable.  When you see this
happening, just remember the above saying about faster twice than fighting
with it once.  Just hurry on through, overshoot all you need to and go through
it again.

 >Do a fairly quick rough tune first, then a fine tune.  
 
> In my experience if you have to pitch raise it figure on at least three
passes to tune >them and your right about not wasting a lot of time on the
first passes.  They won't >stay where you  leave them.

It all depends on what you think of as a pitch raise and what the tolerance
for the situation is.  I almost never tune any piano with just one pass.
Most,  I do with two but some situations require more.  I can easily tune a
typical home vertical piano with two passes in 45 minutes.  I can get that
done in 30 minutes if I really have to.  If I stop and do other things here or
there as I go, It will take an hour.  3 passes will take an hour.  Since there
are other things usually required than tuning, I usually budget 90 total
minutes for a typical home piano service.  I often have time for a break or an
errend in between jobs.  If a piano needs 2 hours work, I cash in and use my
cellular phone to call ahead that I will be a little late.  If I can get the
piano done in an hour, I charge the going rate, no matter what I do.  If it
goes beyond that, I charge for extra time at the same per minute rate as I do
for the first hour, rounding off to the nearest 5 minutes.

 >Using impact type techniques as opposed to a slow pull should work better
with this fine instrument >>

I suppose this is really a matter of opinion but others have said the same
thing.  You have to find what works for you.  George Defebaugh explained years
ago that an impact type technique gives you the most mechanically correct
advantage in moving the string.  I believed him and tried what he
demonstrated.  It worked for me then and has ever since for almost 20 years.

I look at it this way:  You have steel wire against several points of friction
with no lubrication.  The best way to move that wire is to jar it into
position rather than to ease or pull it.  Therefore, impact hammer techniques
and hard test blows to prove and settle stability make sense.  You don't have
to constantly beat on the piano in order to tune it well.  However, your pitch
must stand up to a firm test blow.  If it doesn't, then it was not stable.
You will always find, particularly in the treble and high treble, notes which
seem to keep going flat as long as you care to pound on the key.  This is
where you identify a "string rendering problem" as it has been called. 

When you encounter such an unstable string, go ahead and pull it quite sharp.
Hit it hard and listen to it fall.  Do it repeatedly until it finally stops.
If it just won't settle down, take your "false beat eliminator" tool (or
anything else you can use to press on a string) and give it a good nudge.  The
pitch will fall dramatically but just pull it back up and settle it in.  

If you see problems like open beckets and spread or unsettled tuning pin
coils, don't knock yopurself out over this piano.  If you have to just get
through a tuning, do so, don't worry too much about pitch standards unless it
is for a performance and report the condition. Get yourself the job of
correcting the defective stringing.  You should be able to do it in a
reasonable amount of time and for a reasonable fee.  Just make that job
another one you have to do on another day.  If you sound like you know what
you are talking about, you'll get the work.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin