Playing cards aren't just made for poker

[Alan R. Barnard]

Brilliant! Playing cards definitely will be a new part of my "special tools" case, right in there with the duct tape, doggy nail clippers, and electric toothbrush!
Just kidding: That really is an idea worth trying. If by some odd chance you don't happen to have playing cards in your tool kit a couple of punchings and a teeny dab of PVC-E might work, too.

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO
Joshua 24:15






Original message
From: "Stephen Papastephanou" 
To: "Pianotech List" 
Received: 11/30/2006 12:06:51 PM
Subject: Re:Playing cards aren't just made for poker


Hi Julia, from Reading PA

Here is another PROVEN idea for you, since you seem to be the only one to endorse my ideas, and for which I thank you.

‘A quick and dirty method to voice a grand piano, a.k.a. ‘Instant voicing’’

It is no secret that concert pianists are often faced with pianos that may have a sharp and unpleasant sound. Needless to say, it becomes obvious that the culprit piano needs voicing.
It is also no secret that most experienced concert pianists voice the piano as they play, by resting their foot on the left pedal, hoping to improve the sound. (The ones that wear heavy shoes are more successful. Women with small feet seem to suffer the most from this unfortunate not infrequent aberration of sound).

This needed voicing, is accomplished (while performing on stage) by shifting the keyboard ever so slightly, so as to prevent the strings from hitting the predetermined grooves on the hammer that have been hardened with playing, and produce a metallic sound. The left pedal of the piano ( as per Josef Hoffman and other great pianists) is not designed to make the piano softer, (although it does it to a certain extent when played ‘due cordi’) but is primarily designed to change the character of the sound, emanating from this mysterious and complicated musical instrument.

So imagine this scenario: You have tuned a piano beautifully, but the sound somehow is not satisfactory. If you can voice it with good results, well and good, but if you can’t, or if you are not further satisfied with the voicing, try this.

Press on the left pedal, and insert two to three playing cards on the left margin of the keyboard (after removing the lid, inside the piano), to prevent the keyboard  from returning all the way back to the left when you let go of the pedal.
In fact you would be imitating or initiating very gentle pressure on the pedal. (Remember the pianists with the heavy shoes)
The groove on the hammers will now be shifted very slightly to the right, and the strings will be hitting virgin territory slightly to the left of the grooves, usually producing a much softer and more pleasant sound. And for Dale who is very scientific and thorough, each card used will shift the keyboard by .010 of an inch. (Thickness of a playing card, as measured by my micrometer).
The strings, striking now so close to the original grooves on the hammer, will eventually change the density of the hammer-felt next to the old groove, and so when the cards are removed after a while, one may find to his surprise, that the character of the sound has improved altogether and that the cards are no longer needed.  (He can then start using them again for his poker game).
If two cards aren’t enough, one can use three. Using more than that, one may enter into ‘due cordi’ territory, which may be desirable under certain conditions if one is planning to ‘voice’ the left pedal after a change of hammers. After a change of hammers, in order for the left pedal to respond properly, (especially to partial pedaling) it has to be broken in by playing the piano for a while, keeping the pedal down.

Be it as it may, one can adjust the different grades of left pedaling (partial pedaling) on the piano, by increasing the number of cards as needed. If many cards have to be used, the left pedal may get loose, and may need slight adjustment under the piano (Usually takes a couple of minutes). 
         
I have no doubt that Dale has a better way of shifting the keyboard (with screws controlling or maintaining the shift of the keyboard) , but keep in mind that the beauty of using playing cards is that one can add or remove one as needed, instantly. (You may even hide the use of these cards from your client, and remove them secretly upon your next tuning visit, after asking him or her for a glass of water).

I am presenting this method with some trepidation, following a proven successful personal experience. (I am not a technician, but a classical pianist. After all, who has ever heard of a respectable RPT using playing cards inside a piano !!!!!!!) 

I have another good trick with cards to report, and some more quick and dirty ideas but I will save them for later, if I survive the attacks from my ‘unscientific empirical and amateur’ methods being tested successfully on my two beloved grand pianos. (They have no choice but to succumb to my surgery, fortunately with good results).

All the best

Steve

P.S. Is it true that ketchup cleans and restores copper?



On 11/30/06 8:35 AM, "KeyKat88 at aol.com" <KeyKat88 at aol.com> wrote:


Greetings,
 
        There is so much to learn!  Every time I think I have learned something, it turns out to have many more aspects to it.  (...great isn't it) 
 
Thanks
JUlia 
Reading PA
 
In a message dated 11/26/2006 5:21:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, Erwinspiano at aol.com writes:

HI Julia
  For a light filing, yes, you raise a practical issue.  There is of course a tolerance at which performance won't suffer  greatly.  It would be great if the fix were as simple as  a let--off adjustment but in order to maintain proper regulation/ i.e. blow distance .... hammer line needs to be raised as will the drop & let-off screw.  The magic line changes & the hammers now over center more as well. All the while the touch becoming lighter due to felt loss & geometry changes. It always Strikes me as such a sticky wicket. Don't you think? And then there's the scruffing scuffing hammer thing.
  Dale





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