Impact tuning levers

[Dean Reyburn]

Hi baoli liu,

My wife Marty has a T-shaped impact lever for tuning grands. She used
it for a about a year after initially learning to tune verticals with an
impact lever.

The tool worked quite well during the couple years she used it, and was
made by  Mike Swendsen in Canada. I think Joe Goss (Mother Goose Tools)
made the swivel mechanism. Mitch Kiel and I did the engineering design
about 5 years ago and I had Mike build it.

The single weight impact hammer does not work well on grands since it is
weighted toward one side. A double weight T-handle impact hammer works
fine for grands, but the shafts have to be shorter, about 2/3 of the 
length
of a vertical impact hammer. The extension (from tuning tip to swivel 
head)
has to be quite long on this tool, about 6" to clear the stretcher and
treble rim. But it still works with a long extension since your hand is
right in the center of the "T", right above the tuning pin.

Since the two weights both have to be about the same as a single weight
for a vertical impact lever, so this is a very heavy tool. The impact in
the center swivel mechanism wore quicker than a vertical impact hammer,
probably because there is about twice the force concentrated there.

The throw on a grand impact hammer we found, needs to be much less than
the 45 degrees of a vertical hammer. About 30 degrees works well.

I used this grand hammer on several grand pianos and found that I liked
it ok, but prefer a standard tuning hammer for grands. Marty uses a 
regular
hammer on grands now, but we both still prefer the impact hammer for
verticals.

Still, if you have shoulder or arm problems, a grand impact hammer can
be a life (or career, arm, shoulder) saver. But it does take a little
getting used to.

It's quite possible we could build a special version of our 
"CyberHammer"
for grand pianos, we just have not had any requests so far. Joe Goss or
Mike Swendson could build one also I'm sure.

Hope that is helpful,

-Dean

http://www.reyburn.com/cyberhammer.html

On Jan 20, 2005, at 2:25 PM, baoli liu wrote:

> Thank you for your response.what i am looking for is
> an impact tuning lever for Grand
> pianos,not"compact"one(sorry for the wrong word).a
> friend of mine told me some one had made impact lever
> for grands,so i am wondering if such grand impact
> lever is still available.
>
> i have been using an impact hammer from Schaff to tune
> grand pianos,it works great except the weight is not
> balanced,the Schaff impact hammer is mainly designed
> for upright pianos.What i am dreaming for is a taller
> "T" impact hammer or a "Y" hammer,which i believe will
> have better balance and increase tuning stability.
>
>
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  Dean L. Reyburn, RPT      RPS, Inc.                   dlr@reyburn.com
  2695 Indian Lakes Road                       <http://www.reyburn.com>
  Cedar Springs, Michigan, 49319 USA
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