I am also predominately a left handed tuner even though I'm right handed. Go figure. I guess I always felt more comfortable playing the intervals, etc. with my right hand. Anyway, as others have mentioned, I also tap the pitch down a "tick" until the friction point breaks, but usually only on pianos that I know are already tightly strung, or are old and may have rusty strings. Regarding the elasiticy thing, when I run across those strings that I sense are borderlining the breaking point, I usually switch to right handed position, especially in uprights, and put the hammer at the 2-3 o'clock position and use a nudging method to inch them to pitch. I seem to be able to do smaller increments this way without stretching the string too much before the pin actually moves in the pinblock. This has saved me countless broken strings because tuning right you don't need to bring the pin out of the cradle to raise the pitch. Tuning left lifts the pin out of the cradle, then you have to turn the pin, so you wind up going a tad sharper when tuning left, then right. So, on tight strings, I switch to right handed technique and it's worked wonderful for me. As Ron said, if they're going to break, they will...but this has seemed to help me loads! Richard W. Bushey Richard's Piano Service www.RichardsPianoService.com www.RichardsPianoService.com/blog Rbushey at RichardsPianoService.com 573-765-9903 ----- Original Message ----- From: Dean May To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 5:28 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reducing tuning time (was Re: frustrated) That isn't my experience. I may tap the pitch down if strings are rusty to break friction points, but I almost always do a steady pull to bring up, and very rarely break strings. If you pay attention, you can tell if the string is running out of elasticity and nearing the breaking point. If that happens, then resort to the bump methods, or just tune the piano a little flat to avoid breakage. I always use TuneLab for pitch raises. Before TuneLab I did break more strings on pitch raises. My conclusion is that previously I was just raising the pitch too sharp. Dean Dean W May (812) 235-5272 voice and text PianoRebuilders.com (888) DEAN-MAY Terre Haute IN 47802 From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of John Ashcraft Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 2:56 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reducing tuning time (was Re: frustrated) I would put out a general caution on the slow-drag method: it is appropriate on pianos that are close to pitch. If you use it in a pitch raise, you're inviting strings to break. Use a downward pull, then a quick upward impulse, or series of impulses, to raise--not a steady pull. --John Ashcraft On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 3:14 PM, Encore Pianos <encorepianos at metrocast.net> wrote: On occasion I do the same thing as Susan while using this method. While no one method works on all pinblocks (nothing works on some!), this slow drag is my go to day to day tuning method. It works well with most pianos, not just the trouble monsters. Generally, as I am dragging the pin up to pitch I am hitting the note a couple of times per second. If you have a nice tuning rhythm going, you'll get a feeling of just when the pin is going to drop in and land on a dime on the octaves, and the unisons as well. When the piano has a reasonably good block, I can hit it on the first try 75 to 80% of the time, and be stable - even in the top octave. I also use this method when doing concert tuning. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of John Ashcraft Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 4:27 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reducing tuning time (was Re: frustrated) I use that (ease up in pitch with vigorous blows) technique on old Knabe grands, to name the certain kind of piano where I find the technique necessary. --John Ashcraft On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Susan Kline <skline at peak.org> wrote: There is a certain kind of piano which I find has better stability if I very slowly ease up to the pitch but not beyond, beating pretty vigorously on the note as I go. If one pulls the pitch over, and then attempts to bang it back down, one should go as little over as possible. The smaller the adjustments, the better the stability will be. Susan Elwood Doss wrote: IF you want to keep your customers, especially those with discriminating hearing, you will be sure to set the strings and pins. Not only will strings and pins relax and go out of tune while you're tuning but often they will slowly relax and go out of tune after the piano tuner is gone. Also when the customer is playing the piano the strings can slip out of tune. Time is important, but that 10 minutes you save could cost you customers. It is tempting to pull the string up to pitch and leave it, but I would resist the temptation, especially if you want to have a lasting quality outcome.Joy!Elwood Doss, Jr. -----Original Message-----From: Duaine Hechler [mailto:dahechler at att.net] Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 5:36 PMTo: pianotech at ptg.orgSubject: Re: [pianotech] Reducing tuning time (was Re: frustrated) The one thing that, in my last couple of tunings, I am trying to do is to concentrate on - not - going way sharp before honing in on the unisons. I shaved off about 10 minutes, the last couple of times. Do most of you come up to pitch or go sharp then come back down? I learned to go sharp then come back down, except in the high tenor, I seem to here it better coming up to pitch. Thanks, Duaine On 01/12/2013 04:41 PM, Mike Kurta wrote: I had my wife sew two lengths together. Voila! Now I have only one mute strip to contend with. Length is no problem, when I put it away I fold it in half length, half again, and lay it in my case. Easy. Mike Kurta ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Ron Nossaman <mailto:rnossaman at cox.net> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org <mailto:pianotech at ptg.org> *Sent:* Saturday, January 12, 2013 9:45 AM *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] Reducing tuning time (was Re: frustrated) On 1/12/2013 8:06 AM, tunerboy3 at comcast.net <mailto:tunerboy3 at comcast.net> wrote: > You order it like one solid piece, something like 72" or 84" long or > so, and cut to desired length or, don't cut it at all. I ordered 6 > or 10 of them so I could experiment with it. I wound up cutting one > of them down the center all the way and using that one in the treble. I cut a strip diagonally down it's length and get two tapered lengths. Ideal in verticals to get around the dampers in that last section where there's no room - especially in Baldwins. A full width strip works very well in the bass, or two of them if one leaks too much. Pearl River passed out a terrific strip at the convention one year. Thin action cloth sewed to buckskin (or Ecsaine, but it acts like buckskin). Best tenor strip I've ever used in grands. I've wished I had managed to get a couple more, but they were pretty protective of them and they wouldn't be difficult to make when the one I have gives up the ghost. > I don't now why but string spacing tends to > be a little greater in the tenor on verticals than in the treble. Fan angles, I'd say. I use a narrow strip of thicker action cloth here. Ron N --Duaine HechlerPiano, Player Piano, Pump Organ - Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding(314) 838-5587 / dahechler at att.net / www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com Home & Business user of Linux - 13 years No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.2890 / Virus Database: 2638/6027 - Release Date: 01/12/13 Internal Virus Database is out of date. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. SPAMfighter has removed 1166 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len Do you have a slow PC? Try a Free scan http://www.spamfighter.com/SLOW-PCfighter?cid=sigen -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20130123/1d41b7e0/attachment-0001.htm>
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