Mike writes: << To the extent that we can tighten these bends during stringing, the initial tunings will be less unstable. Even in the best scenario, these bends continue to "improve" for several tunings/years, until they eventually settle down and are less of a factor than all the other things which cause pianos to go out of tune. >> Greetings, I wondered where all the flattness came from in a new string. There are several places where the loss of pitch is measurable. Installing a new string on C5 of a Hamburg B, (recording studio piano that was to be used that day), I pulled it up 20 cents sharp and left it there for the rest of the tuning. Then I went back and measured it, finding it to have fallen on its own to 4 cents sharp. I lightly tapped the hitch pin area and the aliquot bends fore and aft and it went just below pitch, (I'm guessing it was no more than 4 cents flat). I pulled it up to 8 cents sharp and lightly tapped behind the distal bridge pin and saw it drop another 3 cents. Pulling it up to pitch I tapped in front of the proximal bridge pin and it dropped another 3 cents. Pulling it up to pitch I then gently lifted the string in front of the Capo bar and it dropped 5 cents. Pulling it up again I then lifted the string behind the capo bar and it dropped 3 cents. <sigh> Pulled it up to 4 cents sharp and tapped front and back of the string rest behind the capo bar and it fell another 3 cents. Pulled it up 4 cents sharp and massaged the whole length of the string and nothing changed. Ah, I thought I had it! Then, on a thought, I took a small pair of vise-grips and grabbed the coil, (not the becket, which I had flattened upon installation). I applied a fair amount of grip to the coil and twisted in the direction of the winding and the string dropped 15 cents! I then pulled the string 8 cents sharp and beginning at the back, went through the entire tapping from back to front. It dropped 2 cents. I twisted the coil once more and it dropped another 2-3 cents. I tuned the damn thing and go out of there. No call backs and the next day it was only about 1 or two cents flat. I pulled it up and it has behaved like all the other strings ever since. The coil would theoretically have an unlimited amount of drop, since the friction around it would prevent the string right before the becket from ever "seeing" the full tension. I have since put the vise-grips on several pianos that were 1-2 years old and every time, there is a significant drop in pitch. I now incorporate this step after the other settling tapping has been done. On a sidenote, the hitch pin coils on bass strings will, if given a gentle squeeze and wiggle, usually produce a 10-20 cent drop on their own, even after a year or two, so I go through them after the first several chippings and before I begin tapping the bends further "downstream". If the wire is going to be moving toward the tuning pins that much, I don't want to deform it around the bridgepins etc. before I relax the hitch pin coils. Regards, Ed Foote RPT www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/ www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A> Ed Foote RPT www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/ www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC