Tuning time -- String Seating

[Andrew and Rebeca Anderson]

It does not hurt to inspect strings at the bridge.  I found a string 
in the treble caught near the top of the bridge pin, how it got there 
is anyone's guess.  I usually do work I call "Piano Voicing" whenever 
I find a piano that requires a significant pitch correction.  I do 
the pitch raise pass a little high.  I check the hitch pin loops and 
tighten them.  I straighten the strings from the hitch pins over the 
rear duplex to the bridge pins.  These are often off in new 
pianos.  I then press forward and down behind and then in front of 
the rear duplex.  Then I take a beat-suppresser bar or a piece of 
brass rod with a groove in the end and push the wire towards the 
bridge and bridge pin pushing down a little.  I then do the same 
thing on the speaking side of the bridge pushing down significantly 
and then towards the pin a little to tighten the curve.  When I do 
this I hear the wire click as tension is passed back behind the 
bridge.  I've done this as annual maintenance on performance 
instruments and had all the wire above the low tenor click 
through.  I suspect that regular tuning methods doesn't keep tension 
up behind the bridge.  On a D that was five cents high after the 
pitch correction pass the pitch fell twenty cents on average after 
doing this.  Leave string lifting/levelling until after you've 
re-tuned or you'll lose it all with the second pitch-correction.

Tuning the rear duplex has been mentioned.  I'm not sure about trying 
to move a whole lot of extra tension there but: keeping it up to 
tension should be done from time to time and would seem to be within 
design parameters.  I've noticed that the rear duplexes do start 
contributing more useful "sounds" after I've done this.

I am against any kind of hammering on the strings at the 
bridge.  I've seen some pretty serious bridge damage on a 
three-year-old D here.  The maple was splintering up on either side 
of the string.  It now has an incorrigible false-beat that is 
definitely at the bridge.  It has one termination at the bridge pin 
and an indeterminate one along some of its length on the bridge.  I'm 
thinking about trying epoxy on it with a hard filler.

If touching the bridge pin with a weight stops the false beating, the 
pin is loose and should be epoxied or CA'd.  If you only dampen it, 
the termination problem is elsewhere.  I found the problem at the 
rear bridge pin or at the capo or agraffe.  Another possibility is 
loose bearing rods or duplexes (more likely to buzz).  One D I'm 
working on has paint and filler right down to the strings on the capo 
(grooved) and I'm going to have to file it back to clean up the sound.

Drifting the wire through the bridge is effective and should not 
damage the terminations at the bridge.  If a wire is up, you will 
push it down.  I have had that happen.  That Estonia with the wire 
caught near the top of the pin does have me 
wondering...?!  Definitely not humidity cycling...

Andrew Anderson