Hello Ron (and List) Your statement about false beats is a "must read" for all interested in tuning pianos. I concur with all you have said. It all makes profound sense. I now eagerly await a "trial by fire". I have therefore put your obiter dictum on the List for all to read. Kind regards Michael G.(UK) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman@cox.net> To: "Michael Gamble" <michael@gambles.fsnet.co.uk> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:46 PM Subject: Re: Seating strings > >> Hello List and Ron who said: (inter alia) >> Here's the mantra... Strings don't climb bridge pins, and seating >> neither pins, nor strings cures the cause of false beats. It just >> does further damage to the cap. >> I must confess to tapping strings on the bridge to get rid of false >> beats. Most times it works. Rarely it doesn't. There has to be a reason >> for that. So.... what is the preferred method of getting rid of those >> false beats? >> Regards >> Michael G.(UK) > > How often do you do it? Every tuning? If you do it on a regular basis with > tuning, how long do you suppose that false beat you got rid of stayed > gone? Was it a year, a month, a week, a day, or at least long enough for > you to get out of the house? The cause typically is loose bridge pins. > When touching the side of the speaking side bridge pin of the false string > (opposite the string) with a screwdriver stops the beat, that's it. > Seating the string often temporarily wedges the pin enough that it doesn't > flagpole and cause the beat. Beat goes away. The tuner thinks he's fixed > it, but it comes back as the string goes back where it was and the loose > pin can again flagpole. The fix is to make the pin solid in the cap at the > surface of the cap. CA or epoxy will do that, but it's not a casual field > repair. For the most part, the customers don't hear (or at least don't > mind) these noises. It's the tuners that are driven nuts by them. I > usually just ignore them and press on. At most, and not often, I'll press > down on a string just forward of the bridge pin with my thumb nail. I know > it doesn't do anything good, but I haven't done any harm, and it sometimes > makes a real screamer less bad temporarily. In my opinion, if the venue > requires a piano utterly free of false beats, then it warrants a thorough > job of repairing the cause, not a band aid seating of strings. The > important thing here is that seating strings isn't something that is > necessary to get the strings back down on the bridge, because they are > already down on the bridge. It's almost always the loose pin that causes > the false beat. Strings don't climb bridge pins. > > Ron N > >
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