Snappy Baldwin Tuning Pins

[thepianoarts]

on 12/22/00 6:50 AM, Phil Bondi at tito@PhilBondi.com wrote:


>...is there a technique for setting snappy
> tuning pins so when/if they want to move, they move less than they are now?

Hey Rook...

    There is a technique that works well on relativly new wire, that can
help deal with very tight pins....

After setting the pin, and the pitch ends up 'somewhat' sharper than
desired,(about 1-2-3 b.p.s. high) instead of trying to move the pin and
lower the pitch, push the wire (along the soeaking length) down with...

...your fingers,
...a hard piece of felt,
...a brass or wooden dowel with a grove cut to accept the wire

The pitch will lower, depending on which of the following techniques you
used, and how vigorously you used them.

Whats happening here?

#1- The wire is being pulled out of the non-soeaking segments

#2- The wire is stretching

#3- I am sure there is a #3, but I don't know what it is

With practice, one can judge how much correction can be made...The more
modest the change, the more likly the results will last.


Caution...if you use a brass dowel or a wooden shank etc. to rub the wire,
the pitch will lower for about 30 seconds to one minuet, and then climb back
up to about where it started. This will happen because the wire heats up
from the rubbing. It is quite dramitic how much pitch change you can induce
from rubbing...and how much the pitch comes back, if you wait for the wire
to cool.

These are not uncommon techniques for 'difficult' pianos.

PS

I am assuming you have...

the humidiy control situation monitored

the plate / block screws snug

And you are tuning with hard blows..

Dan Reed

Dallas Chapter