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10
THE
MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OuTTECHNlCAL
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
[EDITOR'S NOTE.—Readers will already have been made
acquainted with the sad news that the Editor and Proprietor
of this paper passed away suddenly on Jan. 1. The extraor-
dinary suddenness of the event, the entire unexpectedness
of the whole catastrophe, have had an almost paralyzing
effect, and none of us who have been associated with him
have yet recovered from the shock.
I feel it my duty,
however, to say, for myself alone, that I feel as if I had
lost my best and dearest friend.
In fact, he was my best
friend for nearly twelve years. Only those who have had
the occasion and opportunity to experience Colonel Bill's
generosity and kindness can appreciate the magnitude of the
loss which we, his co-workers, have suffered.
For twelve
years almost I have been contributing to The Review and
in all that time it has been my dearest privilege to know
that Colonel Bill was my friend, that he took a sincere
interest in me and in my affairs and that his counsel and
assistance were ever at the disposal of those who really
needed either.
An aristocrat of aristocrats by birth and
breeding, he was the most democratic and approachable of
men.
Courtesy was his constant and instinctive attitude,
as it is the hall-mark of the true aristocrat everywhere.
He never was, never could have been, rude or gruff to
the humblest employe. Every man in his organization had
the right to approach him, every visitor was sure of his
courteous attention.
Urbane of manner, fluent of speech,
of cultured mind and magnificent physique, handsome and
debonair, he made me think always of a mediaeval knight
come to life in the twentieth century. He bulked among
his fellows, a brave, romantic figure, never neglecting the
details of his great business, ever dominating it, yet
always suffusing the business atmosphere with a spirit of
fine generosity and kindness.
He "was a man to stand
before kings, and we shall not see his like again.—WILLIAM
BKAID WHITE.]
SOLID TUNING.
I have the following letter of request from a cor-
respondent in Williamsport, Pa., whose name I do
not clearly decipher, but who has, if I remember,
written to this department before: "Dear Sir—Let
us have some articles on solid tuning; on the
proper way to set the pin, whether downward or
on the upward turn. Is it best to let the pin down
and then pull it up? There are so many ways and
they cannot all 'be right. There can only be one
right way. Let us have it through The Review in
one of your articles. I never could understand this
part, namely, the advice to pull the string above
pitch, settle back and leave on upturn."
I have been tuning pianos for now something
like fifteen years, or a little more, and in all that
time I have yet to hear a word, or read a line, on
the subject either particularly accurate or con-
spicuously intelligible. Indeed, there has been
much said and almost as much written about solid
tuning during the years of which I speak; and I do
not mind confessing that the very first letter I ever
wrote to a trade paper expressed my disagreement
with the statements made by some writer on this
very topic. I am not sure that my opinion, as then
expressed, had very much value; in fact, it prob-
ably did not. But it is quite certain that I was
started off on my wild career as a writer and
more or less authoritative teacher of these things
by the chance of reading and being moved to reply
to an article on solid tuning. My lamented and
honored friend, Col. Bill, who saw that I had some
ideas that might be made valuable, and got me to
inaugurate this Technical Department nearly twelve
years ago, probably never knew what had originally
started me free-lancing among the trade papers
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with alleged technical articles; but the fact is as 1 on the belly bridge. In fact, if there were com-
have stated it. Hence it is fair to assume that the plete smoothness of pull from tuning pin to hitch
pin there would be no problem in stretching the
subject possesses for me no little interest.
But what, in fact, do we mean when we say string. The whole matter would simply involve
turning the tuning pin and being done with it.
"solid tuning"? Obviously, out of the cloud of
Now there is a good deal of nonsense talked, in
argument, suggestion, wisdom and near-wisdom
which has concealed the subject matter for so long, my humble opinion, about "equalizing the tension"
we can at least extract one fact. We can say that of the waste and speaking lengths. Except at the
solid tuning means tuning that stands. When we upper treble end where the respective lejigths are
ask how we may learn to tune solidly, we mean nearly equal for a short distance below C 7, it is
how we may learn to tune so that the strings do impossible that the tension of the waste length
not lose their pitch as soon as they are subjected should be as low as that of the speaking length. But
to the strain of playing. We want to know how when tuners talk about equalizing the tension they
to tune pianos so that they shall retain their in- are really talking, 1 am persuaded, about over-
tune condition for a reasonable length of time. coming the tendency of the string to hang on the
That, after all, is the most that we can ask to have bearing bridge; a tendency due to the frictional re-
explained to us; and the most that we have any sistance imposed by the bearing surface of the
right to believe ourselves capable of answering. bridge against the surface of the string. The
Pianos being what they are, it is certain that we tuner's technique, in fact, may be considered as
have to deal with this problem under three heads: depending upon (1) his ability to turn the pin
The tuning pin, the string, and the wrest plank. without grinding at the wrest plank and twisting
There are also to be considered the bridges, whether at the eye, and (2) his ability to get the string to
af belly or at wrest plank, but these shall be treated come through its bearings satisfactorily.
in the course of the argument that is to follow.
The obvious way to do the second of these things
For some reason, an immense amount of contro- is, of course, to pull the string up till it sounds
versy has gone on over the technique of the pin sharp of pitch and then pound on the key until the
and string manipulation. All the experts are very hammer has beaten at the string enough to jerk it
sure of their own methods being quite right and over the bridge until the slack is, as it were, taken
everybody else's being quite wrong. One side up and the string is evenly tightened (not evenly
proves their thesis by the laws of physical science tensioned) from end to end. But this method has
and the other side sneers at them for 'being im- two disadvantages. It is quite uncertain and it is
practical. One side stands for a particular method, unnecessarily brutal. A good pounding on a new
and manages to prove its sole right to be consid- piano, repeated two or three times, is all very well,
ered worthy, whereupon arise at once the cham- for it simply settles the action and keys for the
pions of the other side, proclaiming that exactly regulator; but that is not what we are trying to do
the opposite is the only true and wise method. when tuning outside. It seems to me that to de-
And there you are. It is all very distressing, espe- pend on pounding is not correct; and as far as my
cially since the contestants sometimes almost lose own experience goes I can say that I have never
their respective tempers and are even at times not found this method either convenient or worth
above intimating that the other side consists while. Pounding the string down is like burning
mainly of dolts and ignoramuses, not to mention down the house every time you want roast pig, with
pig-headed bigots who will not see the light. Tt is added uncertainty as to the pig being in the ruins
all very sad, as I hinted above; and what good when the fire is put out. The pig may be there, but
does it all do?
then again it may not.
So far as I can see it, the whole thing is reduci-
The point is that if we turn the pin carefully
ble to comparatively simple terms. In what fol- and make sure that it is actually turned, not merely
lows I may appear to be somewhat rough in my bent a little at one end, until we have reached the
course of reasoning, but there is so much rough- desired pitch, and a little more, then a sharp blow
ness anyhow in the whole process, and so many un- or two on the key will deliver enough of a blow on
certain factors (or, as my scientific friends would the string to loosen the slight "hang" on the bearing
prefer me to say, "independent variables") enter into bridge and settle the string where it belongs. Tt is
the problem, that rigid reasoning is likely to be not a case of pounding the string down, but one of
very deceptive in its apparent results. The ele- just gently settling it into KS place. The pin must
ments are the string and the pin. What do we do be turned, and although there is no law about it,
with them and how do they behave?
it is more sensible to pull the string just a little
The string, to 'begin with, is hitched at one end sharp, simply because in settling the string the
over a hitch pin and passes over two bridges. Be- tendency is to lower the tension of the speaking
tween the hitch pin and the belly bridge is a waste lengtih slightly, and so also lower the pitch. Inci-
end which, being very short, is naturally at a ten- dentally, I may say that the actual effect on a string
sion much higher than that of the speaking length. of pounding with the hammer is probably much
The latter runs to a bearing bridge, whence to the slighter than is often supposed.
tuning pin is another waste length, also at high
I often find in tuning the fourths and fifths, where
tension. Now, for our immediate purposes, we
may dismiss the lower waste end and consider only
Tuners and Repairmen
the upper waste length and the speaking length. It
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is plain that the strain between the tuning pin and
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for catalogue.
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string tends to "hang" on the upper bridge. The
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