Hi Jim, The area where I notice the most annoying string leveling problems on spinet and console pianos tends to be in the wound bichords. And, as for string leveling techniques on spinets and other vertical pianos: The next time you tune such a beast, if you happen to notice either that a certain bichord unison does not tune cleanly, or that it has a "whiny" timbre that doesn't match its neighbors, go ahead and lightly push the hammer towards the string (with the sustain pedal down to lift the damper), and, as you hold it lightly against the pair of strings, pluck them individually, comparing plucked sounds. If the muted sound that arises from the two plucks does not match, level the strings either by pushing in the string that is sticking out (the notch in the end of Don Mannino's T-shaped stringing hook works well for this - thanks, Don!), or by pulling out the string which is farthest in, using a stringing hook. I usually prefer to push, but sometimes in extreme cases it may be best to "split the difference" and do a little pushing and pulling (no comment from the wise guys in the peanut gallery!). It is best to do your pushing and/or pulling on the unwound portion of the string near the upper termination. Repeat your hammer pushing/plucking procedure to see if the two muted plucks match timbrally and in terms of sustain. If not, try leveling again. If the plucked sounds now match, readjust your unison tuning, and listen for what is probably a noticeable improvement in the unison quality and the timbre of that note as compared to its neighbors. This might take a few minutes at most. Of course, some bichords do not match each other for other reasons, such as mismatched speaking lengths, errors in string fabrication, bridge problems, and the like. So, this is no panacea, but it can make a real difference. I'll also mention that, since the hammers are exposed on an upright, you can accomplish a similar result by filing the hammer until it matches both strings (or the three strings of a trichord) using the same plucking test, instead of leveling the strings. This might be advisable in certain cases where the dampers are old and crusty, and you are afraid that they might not damp well after fooling with the string level.... In discussing my friend who is obsessive about string leveling, I should have said that he listens for string leveling problems in 100% of his tunings, and usually takes action to correct them when he notices them, which is often. However, a lightly played and regularly serviced piano won't show obvious string leveling problems with every tuning, so it's not true that he is actually leveling strings at nearly 100% of his tunings, just that he is listening for it and is willing to correct it at almost every tuning. I think that my last post got a little sanctimonious, so, I'll say about my own string leveling practice: I went back and listened to a recording for which I prepared the piano, and I can hear unlevel strings in one exposed passage! Ouch! Guess I didn't get 'em all.... Joe DeFazio Pittsburgh > From: JimWilsonian at aol.com > Date: March 9, 2009 12:23:43 AM EDT > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Subject: Re: [pianotech] String Leveling question (Joe DeFazio) > Reply-To: pianotech at ptg.org > > >> One of the very finest concert tuners I know levels strings at >> nearly 100% of his tunings, and I really do mean on Whitney >> spinets... > > > Well that certainly is dedication to one's craft! It does make me > ponder precisely what techniques he might have employed to do this > on a spinet. > > Jim -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090309/f8e93742/attachment.html>
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