further education

[cswearingen@daigger.com]

Joey,


In my case, since I switched in the middle of the Randy Potter course,
there was really no adjustment for me.  I learned to tune on a new Yamaha
U1 and the pins were very tight.  With the traditional lever, I really felt
as though I was just fighting the pins too much, especially in the upper
treble where it was difficult for me to make very small increments with the
traditional lever.

Yes, the technique is quite different.  Because it is very easy to move the
pin in small increments with an impact hammer, I usually move the pin back
and forth, getting closer and closer to the target pitch until I come up to
pitch on my last movement.  The jury still seems out on this but many feel
that making this final movement up to pitch (as opposed to moving to pitch
from above) makes for better stability.  In my own experience, I haven't
been able to tell much difference in stability whether I approach the
correct pitch from above or below.  For whatever reason, I seem to be
quicker and more accurate if I approach the pitch coming down from above.

The only problem with an impact hammer is that it really doesn't work well
on grands.  However, I have a second impact hammer that is a T-handle
hammer (I'm sure Joe Goss will tell you about his - it seems very nice!)
This does cause you to carry around 2 weighted hammers and makes the tuning
bag quite a bit heavier but that's never really bothered me much.

Although I love Schaff, the design of their impact hammer isn't very good.
I had Keith Bowman at Renner make my upright impact hammer and Mike
Swendsen (out of Canada) make my T-hammer impact wrench.

Sometimes I will find a piano where the pins have low torque and in these
cases, it can actually be a bit of a challenge to use an impact hammer.  In
these cases, I use my traditional hammer.  So, in my case, I carry three
different hammers in my tuning bag.

Corte Swearingen
Chicago


                                                                                                           
                      "Joey Recker"                                                                        
                      <joey@onkeypianot        To:       "'Pianotech'" <pianotech@ptg.org>                 
                      uning.com>               cc:                                                         
                      Sent by:                 Subject:  RE: further education                             
                      pianotech-bounces                                                                    
                      @ptg.org                                                                             
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           
                      09/05/2003 11:50                                                                     
                      AM                                                                                   
                      Please respond to                                                                    
                      joey; Please                                                                         
                      respond to                                                                           
                      Pianotech                                                                            
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           





I've seen them in the catalogs but that's about as much as I know about
them.  If I use an impact hammer, does my technique have to change or
what?  How long did it take you to adjust?

JR

> Joey,
>
> I'm a relatively new tuner as well and I must say, in my
> personal case, I found an all new level of accuracy and
> stability when I switched from a traditional tuning lever to
> an impact lever.  Of course, when I made this switch, I was
> still taking the Randy Potter course and still trying a lot
> of different techniques.  In my experience, technicians who
> have used the traditional tuning lever for a long time don't
> tend to take too well to the impact hammer.  In my opinion,
> however, it is easier and quicker for a new tuner to learn
> the impact  hammer than the traditional hammer.  My tunings
> became more stable and I was able to set the pitch quicker.
> It might quickly take that 3.5 hour spinet job down to a more
> reasonable 1.5-2 hours.
>
> Just my opinion.
>
> Corte Swearingen
> Chicago
>

_______________________________________________
pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives