Pressure bar on upright piano

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Elian Degen J." <elian_degen@cantv.net>
To: "Open Forum for Piano Technicians" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 11, 2002 3:19 PM
Subject: Pressure bar on upright piano


> Hello
>
> I just received an old Upright Rippen piano which for some time was
subjeced
> to a very high degree of humidity.
>
> Most of the job is done alredy, but now it came to my attention that the
> pressure bar has lost pressure as some strings will just move freely
> sideways. I tried tightening it a little bit ( tuning is lower in excess
of
> 150cts...) and it tightens easy, so I tried half turn per screw evenly
> across the whole pressure bar, Now when I strech strings stay in place.
>
> My question is,  should I leave it there?  Shall I tighten it further? How
> can I determine an optimal setting? or near it?

I'm not familiar with the particular Rippen you have, but...assuming that
the Rippen uses a relatively standard V-bar height...

A very general rule of thumb is to lower the pressure bar until the string
segments between the pressure bar and the coil on the tuning pin are
approximately parallel to the plate.

At least that will be a good place to start.

Del