Muting high treble

[Richard Moody]

----- Original Message -----
From: Mickey Kessler <mickeykes2@uf.znet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 8:16 PM
Subject: tuning high treble


| Hi all,
.........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?

After all these years I finally cut  a strip of felt I think it is
understringing
felt, to about 1/2 inch wide and this was narrow enough to fit between
the dampers and hammers on a "consolette" at least.  If cut to 3/8 it
should fit even better.  After the dampers the full width of the cloth
fit nicely.  This felt appears to be the same thickness as the thin
temperament strip from Schaff.  Jim Coleman has mentioned exactly what
this is but I forgot.
You could a thin temp strip and cut it with Fiskars to a little wider
than its thickness.
In the bass I suggest another temp strip to mute every single string
and then every other bi chord.  You might need two strips for this.
This keeps these big strings from vibrating sympathetically when upper
strings are being tuned.   I think muting the whole piano is the best
way to go but you have to custom cut a temperament strip or two to do
it esp between the dampers and hammers above the treble break or
action bracket.    ===ric





| 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
|