Tuning without a click...

[Bill Ballard]

At 4:33 PM -0400 6/28/98, ETomlinCF3@aol.com wrote:
>The piano is a hard one to tune in that the pin block is spongy and doesn't
>feel as if the pin moves.  No click, no snap, no definite feel.  The piano
>sounds like a powerhouse.  When it is serviced it sounds great but I hate to
>tune it because it responds so different than any other piano I tune.

Do I gather correctly that the pinblock grip  (torque) is pretty low? The
main sensation of the tuning moving is the build up and release of torsion
as the bottom end of the pin breaks free. When tp torque drops below 40"/#,
the entire pin will move with no initial torsion.

 At 5:09 PM -0500 6/28/98, Ron Nossaman wrote:
>Hi Ed, I tune an older BB at one of my colleges. The block in this one is
>(sort of) ok, but the string bearing angles through the capo are close to 45
>degrees. I have to move the pin a LONG way before the pitch changes, either
>down or up. There isn't any major problem with snap, ping, and zing in this
>one, just the disconcerting lag time between the action and the result when
>tuning. I'm sure the Mars Rover operator knows the feeling well. Tuning
>stability on this piano is out the window because I have no way of
>determining when all the string segments tensions are equalized, other than
>'best guess'.

Low pin torque is one half of the Tuning from Hell. The other is high
string friction, such as described by Ron Nossman. To gage the coordination
between string and pin we depend on being able to measure the amount of
wire change at the speaking length which occurs before the pin torsion
releases. If because of  high string friction and low tuning pin friction,
we have broken the pin torsion more than once before the pitch ever changes
in the speaking length, there is no way to guess at what imbalances we may
have created in the distance between the tuning pin and the speaking
length.

Bill Ballard, RPT
New Hampshire Chapter, PTG

"The truth is inside you, Don Octavio. I cannot help you find that."
	The mother of a delusional patient to his psychiatrist in "Don Juan
DeMarco"