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THE MUSIC TRADE
SEPTEMBER 9, 1922
11
REVIEW
OurTECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM BRAID WHITE
FILE, NEEDLE AND HAMMER
Some Suggestions Regarding the Treatment of
Hammers in Old Pianos
Allen Roberts asks me to say something new
about the treatment of hammers in old pianos,
with especial reference to the difficulties which
the tuner has to meet and overcome. Whether
anything new can be said I do not know, but
assuredly the subject has numerous possibilities
and affords much opportunity for exposition. At
the risk of boring those who know all about it,
therefore, I shall discuss the matter in the fol-
lowing paragraphs.
Leaving Things Alone
It would be a fair statement of the case to
say simply that the best thing for the tuner to
do is to leave the hammers of an old piano
alone, except when he feels that the circum-
stances compel his intervention. This lesson is
not too easily learned, I know, and if my own
experiences have any significance the young
tuner, and sometimes even the old one, must
often fight against the professional desire to do
a good job, and to make improvements which
the owner of the instrument will quite probably
not at all appreciate. One of the first lessons
to be learned by the young professional tuner
is that the owner of a piano is often enamored
of a tone-quality which to the expert ear is
simply shocking. An old instrument becomes,
as it were, hallowed, and the associations which
cling around it more than make up for any
defects in its tone production which may appear
as time goes on. That is why a tuner some-
times finds that in tone regulating an old piano
he has created in the mind of the owner a feel-
ing of antagonism because the tonal associa-
tions which have been connected with it during
the several years which have elapsed since the
last tuning have now been rudely shattered.
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URN YOUR STRAIGHT
PIANOS INTO PLAYERS
T
•('•:
Individual pneumatic stacks, roll
boxes, bellows, pedal actions, ex-
pression boxes.
Manufacturers, dealers, tuners and
repair men supplied with player
actions for straight pianos.
The fact that a vast improvement has been be called on to do and what he usually can do,
worked is nothing to the point. The owner's in the way of hammer work, on old pianos, with
ear is equally unable to appreciate the novel advantage to tone and musical efficiency.
The Iron Treatment
accuracy of the pitch and the improvements
It is frequently necessary to treat old sets of
which the tuner's needles have made in the
tone. Young tuners may be puzzled by these hammers somewhat drastically before they can
be filed in the ordinary way. When pianos have
facts: old tuners know what to expect.
Perhaps then the very first injunction to be been very much used during fifteen years or
laid down is this: do not touch hammers unless so the hammers are often in very bad condition.
it is absolutely necessary and you are sure that The high treble hammers may be almost, and
the owner really knows what you are going to in places, quite worn down to the wood. The
middle and bass hammers may be punched al-
do and wants you to do it.
To which I should add the further injunction: together flat. There is little use in filing such
do not include hammer work in the all-inclusive hammers until they have been prepared, so far
charge which I spoke of a week or two ago. as may be practicable, for the sandpaper.
Flat hammer-surfaces may be treated by iron-
In other words, do not include any work on
hammers save in the way of necessary indi- ing with a heated iron, made from an old chisel
vidual touching up in the overhauling, inspect- of about one inch in breadth and cut off square.
ing and mechanical adjusting which you will By applying this iron, well heated, to the upper
include as part of what your customer will call and lower sides of the felt, above and below the
a "tuning," and which will be paid for on the contact point of the strings, it is usually possible
all-inclusive basis. For tonal work is properly to press the felt back into something like its
to be included with repairing and to be charged original shape. The tuner should not be afraid
of burning the felt, for the black markings he
for accordingly.
My own personal belief is that all work which will make are only superficial and may be easily
does not properly fall within the scope of the filed off.
I prefer always to try what can be done in
inclusive job and charge which I have discussed
here recently, that is to say, which is neither this way when a surface is obviously not other-
mere tuning nor an adjustment accessory to the wise suitable for treatment with the file. I al-
requirement that the piano shall be in working ways do what I can in this way and usually find
order when the tuner leaves it, should be esti- that with patience and perseverance the sur-
mated and paid for upon the basis of the time faces can be brought into a condition as re-
icquired to perform it. I believe that any tuner's gards shape where they can profitably be filed
time is worth two dollars an hour or fifteen dol- smooth and prepared for needling. The same
lars per working day, year in and year out. On statement applies also to the high treble ham-
some such basis as this may be erected a just mers which may be worn down to the wood.
charge for hammer work or for any other sort By careful work with the iron one can often
persuade the felt to stretch itself over the bare
of repairing.
I have spoken thus somewhat at length be- wood and thus, for a time at least, cover up
cause the question of what not to do is in this, the defect.
The Art of Filing
as in so many cases, quite as important as any
When the hammers have been thus treated,
other. Let us now consider what the tuner may
if and when they need this treatment, they must
always be filed. Now there is an art in filing
hammers which not every tuner seems to pos-
Complete Course In
sess. The file itself should be made from a
TUNING, REPAIRING, REGULATING AND
POLISHING
thin piece of suitable wood, such as a one-inch
GEORGE S. CARL, Director
width of cigar-box wood, or else one should
601 West 5lst St.
New YorK City
buy one of the little prepared handles made by
Three doors from the Danquard Player Action School
Lyon & Healy. The sandpaper is glued on, in
the one case, or fastened, in the other. It must
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be constantly renewed, for a blunt sandpaper
ON REFINISHING
file is an impossible tool to work with. I have
Just send your name and address and get this
(Continued on page 14)
free book, which tells how damaged or worn
surfaces, in any finish, can quickly and
easily be made NEW again.
Every dealer, repair man and re-
Make
Music Rolls
finisher should read it. Sent post-
PROFITS FOR THE TUNER
ot nut by regular
making special player roll! or 1
paid—no cost, no obligation.
roll manufacturers. Or tell yoi
itomera a complete
machine and make a liberal commission
Write for it now—a card will do.
Concord School of Piano Tuning
FREE
Free Instruction manual.
for details.
M. L. CAMPBELL CO.
2328 Penn St.
TUNERS
JENKINSON PLAYER ACTION CO., I n c .
912-914 Elm St.
Cincinnati, O.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
Standard of America
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Piano Toning, Pipe and Reed Organ
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Price of complete outfit. |12.B0.
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Send
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BASS STRINGS
Special attention given to the need* of the tuner and the dealer
OTTO
R. TREFZ,
Jr.
Full-mount Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
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