Setting them pins!

[pianolover 88]

Your pin setting technique may be fine; it may be other factors that 
determine how long the piano "stays in tune", such as humidity fluctuations, 
structural issues like the pinblock's abitlity to hold the tension, etc.  
Predicting how long a piano will stay in tune is like predicting how long 
your car will "stay clean" after its washed! And when you say:

"Now I'm pretty confident that my string settling is pretty good, simply 
because I pound pretty heavy during tuning, and my tunings seem stable 
enough when I'm finished.  I can't knock it out of tune" after I'm finished" 
   That says quite a lot. That's a pretty good way to determine if the 
tuning is "solid". It works for me. But there's also something to be said 
for always trying to improve your skills.

Terry Peterson




----Original Message Follows----
From: "Benny L. Tucker" <precisionpiano@alltel.net>
Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: Setting them pins!
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 22:40:52 -0500

Hi folks,
     I would appreciate some feedback on pin setting technique. In the past,
I would always set the pin pretty hard.
     During my short career in piano technology, I've had a chance to
re-visit several customers for 6-month/yearly tunings. My findings on return
trips were kinda disappointing.
     I'm always trying to improve my technique, and I just got to wondering
if I was setting the pin "too hard" leaving a little too much twist in it.
     Now I'm pretty confident that my string settling is pretty good, simply
because I pound pretty heavy during tuning, and my tunings seem stable
enough when I'm finished. "I can't knock it out of tune" after I'm finished.
But, I've heard some pianos that I've tuned and they sounded pretty bad just
a couple of weeks later. Others last for months on end, not sounding great,
but not too bad either.
     To cut to the chase, I'm currently not setting the pin hard at all, 
just
a counter-clockwise push until the "beginning" of resistance is felt. Now
I'm sure there is no excess twist in the pin, but for some reason I can't
get confidence in this technique. It just don't "feel right" If I don't push
hard down-pitch.
     So, my question this time, "How hard to you guys and gals set the 
pins"?
And do you feel confident with it's holding power?

Thanks for your input!

Benny L. Tucker
Precision Piano Tuning & Repair
Thomaston, Ga.


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