Whammy bar/Baldwin vs. the tuner

[Ken Jankura]

List
   Today I tuned a Baldwin L of very recent vintage for the 5th time since
Sept of 2000. I hate this piano. Let me back off a little bit, I dislike
tuning this piano immensely. At first I thought it was the tight pins, which
there are, but soon came to realize it is the no-plate-bushing flagpoling
combined with almost no friction/low deflection angle from both the capo and
aggraffe sections. I can use my tuning lever to do a whammy bar effect all
through the tenor and treble. I'm refering to that bar on some electric
guitars that allows you to drastically alter the pitch or, if you do it
quickly,  get a vibratto effect.  I naturally use a jerk motion when I tune,
and I kept being reminded of my teenage years and that old Teisco guitar.
   Last year, just to see how tight the pins are, I pulled a pin in octave 5
up on a string that was about 4 cts. flat and held on to the hammer and
measured it with the SAT at 60+cts. sharp. I settled it back and it was
still 4 cts. flat! This seems pretty drastic.
   It takes me almost twice as long to tune this piano, because the unisons
just won't stay. Today I tried a technique of just pounding the hell out of
it the whole time, and not moving on until I was sure it was stable. I wear
earplugs and a key pounder, and still it was a very unpleasant experience. I
find the no friction capo/aggrafe thing harder to tune than the high
friction ones, at least when there are tight pins involved. Like the
Steinway uprights. I love my work, but somedays.......
Just griping,
Ken Jankura rpt
Fayetteville PA