There's always a hitch

[Peter Lamos]

Dearest Friends (religious, non-religious, and of all political
parties),

Someone responded off list with some good info.  I didn't include their
name in case they responded off list for a reason. The info follows:

There are several positive advantages for separate hitch pins for each
string.  I give the details below for comparison only and not for
discrimination against pianos not having hitch pins for each string.

 
1. With each string having its own hitch pin, if one string breaks in
any one note, there are at least two left.  This is a great advantage
during a concert.  In the case of one hitch pin for two strings, you can
have one string go missing in two notes, or two strings in one note,
which will leave the one string note very weak.

2. Strings elongate (stretch) according to string length.  In the case
of separate hitch pins, the strings in the same note are quite uniform
in length, since the tuning pins and hitch pins are fairly equally
spaced.  This helps for better pitch stability of strings (unisons) in
the same note, providing the tuning was well done. 

3. When a piano is subjected to a fair amount of atmospheric (humidity)
change, the strings in pianos using one hitch pin for two strings of the
same note (because of their difference in overall length) will be
affected differently.  The pitch of the shorter string will rise a
little more than will the longer of the two on the same hitch pin, when
humidity levels go up. And the opposite is true when the humidity level
drops.  I notice this all the time when I get to tune the same pianos
(that have used the one hitch pin construction for two strings) at
different times of the year.  It is not the same when I tune
Bosendorfers, or other pianos, that have separate hitch pins for each
string.  The unisons of the notes are usually uniform, even though the
center area of the piano scale has either risen in pitch, or dropped, as
the result of the atmospheric changes.

4. When comparing the sound of two pianos that have not been tuned for a
while, the piano with just one hitch pin for two strings will sound more
out of tune, because the addition of the out of tune unisons, due to
unequal string lengths on the same notes.  This will not be the case
with the piano that has hitch pins for each string.

I trust that the above makes sense. It is what I have experienced during
my 50 plus years of piano service work.
 {End quote}

And in response to a different post:

*BTW, I'm not familiar with the model.
*  Are the knots:
*   German  0////|------
*or French  0^v^v^v^v^v^v//---- ?

I don't know, but they didn't answer to "parle tu Francais?" or "spraken
sie Deutsch?"

Peter Lamos
Brunswick, GA