[pianotech] Harpsichord Tuning Pin Torque?

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

yes.

Conrad Hoffsommer




To: pianotech at ptg.org
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:08:45 -0400
From: reggaepass at aol.com
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Harpsichord Tuning Pin Torque?




A 
light tap tightens it,
Could this be where the term tuning "hammer" (as opposed to "lever" or "wrench") comes from?




Alan Eder










-----Original Message-----

From: George F Emerson <pianoguru at cox.net>

To: joegarrett at earthlink.net; pianotech at ptg.org

Sent: Thu, Sep 16, 2010 12:05 pm

Subject: Re: [pianotech] Harpsichord Tuning Pin Torque?












> ...... It seems, everything on a harpsichord is 'by feel' 


> or 'because that's the way it has been done', with little or no R & D. Why 


> is that? 

 


In early writing about tuning methods for harpsichords, the instruction for 
a pitch standard was: Pull the tension up until you think it might break, 
then back off a little.  That's your pitch standard!  Bare in mind that this 
was long before the time of Hertz.  They didn't even have a unit of measure 
to quantify pitch. 

 


In the early 20th c., the harpsichord had all but disappeared from use, 
until Wanda Landowska revitalized interest in the instrument.  When 
craftsmen took up the task of building such instruments, it was with the 
attitude that we have learned SO much from piano building over the past 
century or so, surely we can do a better job of this than they did hundreds 
of years ago.  So, they build harpsichords like Sherman tanks.  They didn't 
look much like harpsichords, and they certainly didn't sound much like 
harpsichords.  Don't fall into that trap.  Don't try to beef-it-up.  Think 
of it as a guitar with a keyboard.  You may already be blocked into a 
certain amount of that with a Sabatihl instrument, but you have the 
opportunity to undo some of it, and restore it to a more "traditional" style 
of construction. 

 


Regarding pin torque, a truly traditional instrument has tapered pins, as 
others have noted.  You have control of the pin torque, as you tune it.  A 
light tap tightens it, and wiggling the pin out a bit loosens it.  You can 
remove the pin to replace a string as often as you like without substantial 
damage to the block.  The idea of zither pins (miniature piano tuning pins) 
was a bad idea to begin with. 

 


Frank Emerson  




 





 		 	   		  
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