Pin Sensitivity; was Carbon fiber tuning lever

[David Ilvedson]

I just went online to www.faulkpiano.com and found every single carbon fiber hammer sold!   

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "David Andersen" <david at davidandersenpianos.com>
To: "Pianotech Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 9/8/2008 3:47:33 PM
Subject: Pin Sensitivity; was Carbon fiber tuning lever


>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