tuning high treble

[Benny L. Tucker]

Hi Mickey,
    Being relatively new to this profession myself, I'm sure some of the
others on the list will probably have better advice than me, but I will tell
you what helps me in some of the situations you mention.
    Muting the high treble. I prefer to use the stick mutes with the
buckskin ends. Schaff sells two different kinds, one made by Yamaha and
another one made by somebody else. If you go this route, get the Yamaha,
It's roughly twice the cost but it works a lot better. The other brand they
sell is too big and I end up using a belt sander to make it as thin as the
Yamaha model.
    The way I use it is to slide the mute between the hammer shanks at an
angle towards the unison, and mute the middle and left string, tune the
right string, move mute to the space between the unison and the unison
directly to the left and tune the middle string to the right string, move
mute to the space between unison and unison directly to right and tune left
string to middle string. I like to tune 2 strings of a unison at a time
instead of tuning the third string to both previously tuned strings. In my
very humble opinion, I get cleaner unisons that way.
    I have often said that the best investment I made in my tool kit was a
re-chargeable cordless screwdriver. When tuning nearly any spinet, I find
it's faster to take off as much of the front of the piano as possible. It's
easier to maneuver the mute through the hammers in this fashion with the
fallboard completely out of the way, than to fight with it during every move
of the mute.
    As far as tuning the high treble, practice, practice, practice....
    First I would recommend, as you're tuning your way up the keyboard, take
notice of how much you're having to pull each string up to get it in the
ballpark. Then when you get to where you can't hear that well, pull that
string up about that same amount. The pin should be close to the right
place. Now while pounding mf or louder, "flex" the pin without actually
turning it, both up and down, slowly, while listening for that crisp clean
ringing tone. You will get to a point where you "know" that there is
someplace within this up and down flexing that the unison sounds better.
There is a certain amount of "feel" involved here, as when you flex the pin
and the pitch seems right, are you up above or down below the mid point of
flex. You should have a fair amount of resistance as you're pushing down
when the pitch is right. If not, you need to turn the pin just a hair more
sharp, and then flex to find the sweet spot again, all the while checking
for a fair amount of torsion as you're pushing down. You also don't want the
pin "pulling" on the string when it's at pitch. What you do want is the
string pulling the pin at the correct torsion.  Just try to get the string
at pitch around the mid-point of the up and down flexing. If you don't have
this torsion, it probably isn't going to stay in tune, as the pin and string
are not set. If this don't make much sense, It's late, I'm tired. I'll try
and rephrase it again later. Hope this helps. And by all means, get the book
by Ken Burton, Different Strokes, from Randy Potter. It'll explain it better
than I ever could.

    Benny L. Tucker
    Yamaha Factory Tuner "high treble my specialty"
    Precision Piano Tuning & Repair
    Thomaston, Ga. 30286

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mickey Kessler" <mickeykes2@uf.znet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 9:16 PM
Subject: tuning high treble


> Hi all,
> I've been following some of the esoteric discussions of various
> temperaments with some interest, but I have a much more basic question for
> the group -- particularly for the aural tuners out there.
>
> I'm learning aural tuning pretty much on my own.  I have an ETD but I'm
> trying not to resort to it unless I just get too lost.
>
> I don't have much trouble tuning the lower end of the piano, as a rule.
My
> headaches come in the high end of the instrument.
>
> Most of my work is on short-scale spinets and consoles (sigh...).  So my
> first question is, how do most of you mute top section, above the
> break?  It's so hard to get to, especially on spinets.  Is there a good
> trick you can pass along?  Is there a way to strip mute the whole
> thing?  If so, what muting material do you use?  Commercial temperament
> strips?  Some kind of action cloth?  Do you use Papp mutes?  Rubber mutes?
>
> Next, and more important, what tests do you use to make sure you're
getting
> the right octave ratio?  I haven't found any test that seems to work
> consistently for me.  I'm guessing way too often, and I don't want to make
> it a habit.  I find that I have to make a lot of compromises between
> octaves, double octaves, tenths -- whatever intervals I can get to work
for
> my ear on the particular piano.  As a last resort I use arpeggios, on the
> theory that at least it'll play in tune in a couple of keys anyway.  In
all
> cases, it becomes terribly time consuming.
>
> Finally, when it comes to unisons way up there, I find myself resorting
> more and more often to plucking strings with a fingernail.  Hitting the
> note with the hammer, I just get lost and can't tell if I'm too high or
too
> low, or where I'm at.  Not all the time, but often enough to wonder what
> I'm doing wrong.  Am I just getting old and losing my hearing, or is there
> some technique I'm missing?
>
>   How do all of you aural tuners handle the high end of the piano?  Any
> trade secrets you'd care to share?
>
> Thanks in advance for all your great advice.
>
> Mickey (Mark) Kessler
>
>