Pin Sensitivity; was Carbon fiber tuning lever

[David Andersen]

All this talk of stiffness and which tool is stiffer completely  
misses the point.

Both the Faulk carbon fiber lever and the Fujan lever---the first I  
own, the second I've used---owe their growing popularity to
their ability to allow the tuner to FEEL the pin in a much more  
intimate and precise way. I've tuned many thousands of pianos, and  
each time i tune I try to get better at feeling where the tuning pins  
are in the block so I can stand them still, put them at rest, and  
"lock them in."
These levers, through some combination of weight, carbon handle, high- 
grade aluminum coupler, and quality tip, produce a much, much more  
sensitive "pin feel" than other levers, even the titanium-shaft Faulk  
or Bowman levers.

Here's the analogy I use in class:  from where I sit now, using the  
"old-school" Hale extension lever I used for the first thirty years
was like touching my beloved's face with fur-lined leather winter  
gloves. The Faulk titanium lever I first used 6 years ago is like  
touching her face with fine, skin-tight leather driving gloves. The  
Faulk carbon-fiber lever is like touching with the finest surgical  
gloves.

I find it more and more difficult to "shim" or "crack" my temperament  
unisons, because my lever has allowed me to really set the pins, and  
it's
hard to move a well-set pin. This bodes very well for the stability  
of the tuning.

Charlie Faulk sent me one of his original carbon-fiber prototypes  
over two years ago. You'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands to  
get it away from me.

David Andersen