false beats from ?? -...

[A440A@aol.com]

Inre False Beating, Dale writes: 
<< Or as I said in my previous post that nothing you do  short of changing 
the 
false, overly stretched & deformed string  will help. Any body out there 
tried 
this remedy? Or are we only going to  consider the bridge pin /ca gule otion? 
 >>

       I have replaced strings that were beating so falsely that I couldn't 
tune them, and the brand new wire had the same problem!   I have taken the 
bridge pins out and renotched and repinned a note on a bridge and put the old wire 
back up to tension and the falseness was gone. I assume I didn't pull the 
wire back exactly to its original position, so there had to be some deformity in 
the speaking lengths.  Didn't seem to matter.  The note was far cleaner than 
before.  
      I have gotten the same results from everything I have tried with false 
beating strings.  Seating the strings with a very light tap sometimes makes a 
big change, and sometimes nothing.  Sometimes a tap on the bridge pin solves 
all problems.  Sometimes new wire helps.  
      I have several high notes on a concert piano here that are untuneable.  
When I address this over the break, I will not waste time on trying to see 
what particular remedy works.  The first thing to try is one drop of super thin 
CA at the base of the bridge pin.  Not because this has any historical weight 
behind it, but rather, because for the investment of time, this gives, by far, 
the best chance the falseness will stop.  If that doesn't help, then I go 
ahead and do everything.  
       I will, instead, check the bearing, remove the wire and renotch.  I 
will either repin the bridge for that note or treat the wood before driving the 
originals back it.  I will inspect as well as fondle the capo bar, searching 
for anything amiss.  I restring it.  If it still sounds like before, I check 
for nearly sympathetic lengths in the backscale.  Sometimes there is a need to 
"detune" an aliquot's note, which I do with a slight kink in the duplex length. 
 I tune it around some, seeing what extraneous woes can be cancelled by 
controlled mis-tuning. 
      Then I move on, no need being a damn fool about it.  False beats are a 
fact of a tuners life.  They take more of a toll on the beginning tuner 
seeking perfection than the older one who knows when to quit.  

Hope all have a happy Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, whatever boat you are 
floating in.    

Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html