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PRACTICAL PIANO TUNING
By ALEXANDER HART
Formerly with Steinway & Sons Tuning Department, Instructor in
Piano Tuning, Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y.
Registered Member of the
National Association of Piano Tuners
Notes of Interest on Tuning
OST of the readers who read the
M
technical articles in the Music
Trade REVIEW, I venture to say, have
removed an action out of the case.
The diagram shows the dampers,
flanges, damper stop rail, susteneto and
expression rail lifter, and the screws
that hold the action in place.
The real purpose of this article is not
for the professional service man, but for
students in general who do not have a
chance to meet some of the old timers
and explain the how's and why's. Here
is a good chance to pick up a few hints
and suggestions, by following the dia-
gram. In fact, may I mention it is a
good idea to save these diagrams for
future reference.
Again referring to our diagram, you
will observe the numbers 1-2-3-4-5-
6-7-8-9-10. They indicate little problems
that come up unknowingly.
Example on 1-2-3
Let us take No.'s 1-2-3 for our first
example. They represent the string or
presumably three strings and No. 4 is
the damper and the felt falls upon the
strings and dampens them after the
finger is released.
The damper felt (4) often becomes
hard. No. 5 and 6 are dampers, but only
No. 4 is raised to demonstrate how you
can use a long darning needle to scrape
off the dust or particles that now and
then accumulate under the felt. Accu-
mulated dust causes an unpleasant
sound when the felt returns to the
strings. It is not unlikely that damper
wire may have become bent in such a
manner as to cause a jingling sound.
To just try to straighten out this
problem (which at times is annoying to
the musician) by bending the wire from
the top of damper head is not good
practice.
Reverting to No. 8 and the screw,
that holds the wire that can be removed
without any trouble, as the general run
of grand actions are all the same in
construction with-, one exception. Some
actions do not have a sostenuto attach-
ment, which means a sustained note, and
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW,. DECEMBER, 1951
instead of one note being lifted by No.
9, No. 10 raises all dampers. This is
accomplished with the right pedal, and
the one sostenuto with the center pedal.
One must be a fine artist to know
when and how to use it in a proper
manner.
Example on No. 8
Reverting to No. 8 and the screws,
have a small thin screwdriver for taking
out the wire, then bend it according to
and where it might touch the string
when it is set in vibration. (When you
put the wire back—see that the damper
beats exactly the same as those next to
it, that the screw is tight, and it doesn't
lift too high. Another problem is No.
10. if it is too taut, and the damper
lifter is too close to the flanges, and
will not give the dampers a chance to
shut off the sound.
The damper rod can be made shorter
—there should be a small amount of
plav between 10 and 8.
A real irritating problem occurs in
the neighborhood of No. 11. This is
where a squeak often develops and
there is no way out but to remove the
action. You can see this without further
explanation.
High test gasoline does the trick.
Don't use any oil or grease, as this sort
of lubrication only tends to corrode the
bushing cloth. At No. 13 there is an-
other problem. This time it may be one
tone that sounds too long or it might
be the case when the damper wire does
not move freely in the bushing cloth
. . . the same process can be used. When
the bushing is so tight that the gasoline
does not help, then you must resort to
dilation, i.e., use a spoke from a bi-
cycle by filing it at one end and insert
it between the felt and the wire. This
operation will surely do the trick.
No. 12—you will observe a lead in-
serted in the damper flange. This may
become loose in the wood, also watch
out for a loose screw at back of the
damper flange.
No. 7 you will notice is a long piece
of wood with a piece of felt at the base,
held in place by two screws. As this is
only a section, shown herewith of a
grand action, in the grand action there
are 4 screws to be tightened, rather than
2 shown herewith.
Rattling
Now the problem confronting us is
also troublesome because the unac-
quainted often loses considerable time
before catching on when, where and
how to locate a sort of rattling sound,
that often resembles a loose hammer
head and the key frame not bedding as
it should.
The loud or expression pedal is often
overworked by continual heavy pound-
ing with the right foot, thus causing l\o.
7 to force itself upward so that the
dampers lift too high, and instead of
being checked by the felt it goes beyond
that point and hits against wood. This
is easily remedied by loosening screws
and lowering the rail. That's all there
is for now. Compliments of the season.
37