In a message dated 3/12/99 6:11:09 PM Central Standard Time, tito@PhilBondi.com writes: << Thanks Bill..but how could one make the piano 'far worse'?..i understand the risk of breaking strings, but 'far worse'?..please explain. Rook >> If your "blind" tuning strokes of the hammer are far too excessive, you will make the piano more out of tune than it already was, just at a higher pitch. If you create chaos by doing this, you will have to spend the time it takes to undo it. One of my jobs today was a 30 year old Story & Clark console which was 50 cents flat in the middle and 100 cents flat in the treble. This is a good example of where *NOT* "hot-dogging" the piano up to pitch in 10 minutes and a total time of 45 minutes with the piano was the answer. I know from my 30 years experience that I would have broken *several* strings had I tried to. That would not have saved any time at all. There was first of all, there was the condition that Jim Colemen talked about recently as a primary cause of breaking strings: the coils in the bass string section were all at a steep angle from the V-bar and had their bottoms severely riding up in the lowest row of tuning pins. I think someone may have tapped the pins in on that piano to get better tuning pin torque because the coils looked pretty close to the plate (but were not all the way flush with it). I frankly cannot understand what Jim means when he says when he "tilts" the coil to remedy this condition. I tried this but could get no real improvement in the severe angle. I used a technique I learned over 20 years ago to get the lowest row ready for a pitch raise. I loosen the coil substantially, about 3 quarter turns counterclockwise of the tuning hammer, then with a string hook, draw the leading part of the wire over the top of the coil, thus nearly eliminating the angle altogether. The coil will be crossed over itself which is a compromise but really, when you draw the coil together with a screwdriver and pull the string up to pitch, you can barely see that the coil looks any different than it should. Our school district bought dozens of Yamha P-22's. In my opinion, they are an ideal school piano. There have been certain defects though and one of them was this breaking low bass string problem. They ultimately solved the problem with rescaling. But the many that were out there were a real problem. Imagine yourself doing one of these *hot-doggin'* 10 minute pitch raises only to come to the uppermost single string and ***BANG***!!! There is a nice one inch of string from the V-Bar to the tuning pin for you to try to tie a knot with a heavy gauge wire. I have done it and succeeded and also done it and failed. When I installed a replacement string once and left it tuned 50 cents sharp, the teacher called a couple of months later and said, "That string is broken again". I asked if there was no sound from it and she replied, "No, it just plays the same note as the one next to it." I routinely cross the coils of the 4 highest single strings in Yamaha P-22's now if I am going to do a pitch raise. The other point is that there are certain makes of pianos where you are more likely to break strings on an aggressive pitch raise. This vintage of Story & Clark consoles is one of them. You have to take it a bit easier. You can't strike or move your hammer too fast, too hard. Therefore, your pitch raise will take longer. To me, any pitch raise beyond 30 cents will require 3 passes, not just 2. This one did and even on the 3rd pass, I had to use the "blind" technique that I wrote about on a few notes in the treble. On the final pass, everything needs to be very close or already in place. When I find a note that is exceptionally flat, I bump up the middle string and "blindly" bump up the outside strings. Then, I set the middle string very firmly. When I do my final aural verification with all unisons tuned, I don't want to have to fix or touch up anything. Even after 3 passes, the 3rd one being charged extra for, this tuning was not as precise as I really like to hear. It makes me wonder what such a piano would sound like that someone claimed to do in just one pass with a single mute. Make every stroke that you put into a tuning work for you, not against you. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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