Hamburg String seating proceedures

[ricb at pianostemmer.no]

Hi again.

Sunday here, and I have the day to myself and thought I'd share the
official line at Academy with respect to string seating.

First off... it is a very mild and carefull approach which is based
upon the premise that the string needs to be firmly down on the
bridge and clamped solidly between the bridge pin and the bridge face
to form a good termination and transfer of energy from the string to
the bridge/soundboard.

As to the proceedure itstelf... its a brass round about 3 mm in
diameter with a flattened end that is placed on the string at the
bridge pin along the strings length. Then a very light tap with a
wooden 1 by 2 block.  

Very visable movement of the strings down the pins is quite evident
on these unfinished D's.  They have been strung, chipped up to pitch
and tuned once at the point we get them.  Further string seating in
the production line is said to be generally uneeded. Tho a carefull
check from time to time after eventual sale and delivery is
recommended. 

The  instructor, George Ammann, underlines that this should be very
carefully done so as to not push the string significantly into the
bridge.

Cheers
RicB