Impact hammers.

[Graeme Harvey]

Thanks for your information Diane. I'm still investigating these tools.
It seems to be that they are advantageous for those with back and shoulder
problems, which thankfully I don't have. However the main reason for my
query is to find a way to accurately set the pins in some newer pianos with
overly tight, jumpy pins.
Even with my regular hammer extended to the max, I find it hard to really
get a fine quality stable tuning in these pianos.

Graeme Harvey
New Plymouth
New Zealand


----- Original Message -----
From: Diane Hofstetter <dianepianotuner@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 1999 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: Impact hammers.


> Dear Graeme,
> Impact hammers are _wonderful!_ (awful?)  They will save you shoulder
> muscles, make you less tired at the end of the tunings on vertical pianos,
> help with stability.  BUT they are just like learning how to use a tuning
> hammer all over again.  You cannot feel the changes in the pin, so you
have
> to depend much more on listening, or if you tune with an ETD on the
lights.
> It takes the determination to learn how to use it for about a month and
then
> you will never want to tune without it again.
>   I've had mine for so long, I don't know what brands are available today,
> good luck,
>   Diane
>