Floyd There is a difference between tapping the bridge pins and/or the strings to eliminate false beats, and doing so to create a stable tuning, especially in association with a pitch raise. I have been taught that false beats are created primarily by poor termination at the bridge and that by tapping the strings and/or the bridge pins and/or pressing down on the strings, is the best way to eliminate the false beats. Now, if during the pitch raise process false beats are created, then doing what is necessary to eliminate those false beats would be appropriate. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Floyd Gadd <fg at floydgadd.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Feb 7, 2010 6:59 pm Subject: [pianotech] Tapping Bridge Pins? I am dealing regularly with a number of Canadian built pianos (Mason and Risch, Heintzman) of the 42 inch variety, built mostly in the 1960s. These are pianos that seem to me to have been built to a low price point, with various compromises (like early damper lift instead of any lead weights in the keys to insure key return) and high levels of hammer flange friction (less than 1 swing, often.) When I first tuned a couple of these, dealing with the treble was frightful. False beats everywhere. I resorted to tapping in the treble pins, and could see visible movement of the pins, maybe 1/2 mm. For the most part the false beats cleared right up. I should say that the bridge caps appeared sound, with no obvious cracking around the pins. I read tonight on the CAUT list some strong cautions against tapping bridge pins. Do these cautions apply to pianos like this, which were obviously built in a hurry? I feel like I'm simply doing what should have been done before the piano left the factory. Floyd Gadd Manitoba Chapter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100208/ff303e0a/attachment.htm>
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