JIMRPT@aol.com wrote: > If coil tightness/neatness makes no difference to tuning stability why do we >take so much time when stringing to make all the coils just-so and get the >pins at the same relative height with the coils the same relative distance from >the plate.???............. > I think it comes down to pride in workmanship. It's workmanlike to make tight coils of uniform number of turns and height above the plate, which likely contributes to pins that have an even feel when tuning. It says something about the quality of the whole rebuild if the technician has taken the trouble to address these appearance issues. I expect to find repairs and adjustments inside of a like nature. I'm preparing a Yamaha grand which is going to be sold and has the liability of having had many strings replaced by one if its former players. The bass strings sound terrible, especially the notes with the universal replacements, so all the wound strings will be replaced. But the treble section, with its motley crew of high and low pins and non-uniform coils, sounds passable and holds a tuning well. The owners are hesitant to replace perfectly good-sounding strings, or even to dress up the coils. My main argument was: "What is a piano technician who comes to inspect it going to think?" In general, when I'm stringing or doing repairs, I always pay close attention to tight helixes, uniform height, etc. But if I find sloppy coils in a piano I'm tuning, I normally don't dress the coils (the above piano being a notable exception). >p.s. > Since the stability thingee has been addressed and we are into the 'why' >phase..... I suppose my question here would be 'why' loose coils are acceptable >at all and this without regard to the stability question. > It's not acceptable within this community of piano technicians and manufacturers because it doesn't meet our standards of excellence. But I can accept it, to a degree, that someone before me has done a less-than-technicianly repair job, which I can let stand because I'm there to tune the piano and I'm not there to judge and redo previous repairs, unless they are so bad as to affect the quality of my work. Sloppy coils do not an unstable tuning make in most cases, IMNSHO. Tom Cole
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