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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
with
W E the are sly all little prone foxes, to get that away
now and
then try to creep in. One of the con-
spicuous foxes is a broken hammer
shank beautifully and bountifully tied
up with thread.
The old saying is—"So long as it
works, why worry." This is the road to
the least resistance. Of course, it is but
a poor-looking mechanical job that
tends to leave a good impression for
what is right and what is wrong.
The question arises . . . "I was in a
light pinch, no material, had to do
something to make the hammer work."
Quite correct, yet there is no excuse for
running out of a few hammer shanks.
The reproduction herewith of a tied-up
shank speaks for itself.
Broken hammer shanks seem to break
just when children are practicing the
most, around the center of the keyboard.
Let us say the hammer shank that is
broken could be "D" above middle "C"
(and this is not at all improbable be-
cause it has happened to the writer),
and believe me, the best and safest way
out of this mess is to replace the broken
one, with a new one, even if it does
entail a lot of time.
Please do not misunderstand me.
There are times when one must resort to
mending something that is broken. For
instance, there might be four shanks
broken instead of one, and this leaves
one hammer shank short—so, providing
the shank is broken off long, in other
words split in half, there is a chance of
making a fair job, with first gluing the
shank and as a reinforcement tie the
shank around with some heavy thread.
Now the other side of the story we
should not forget, inasmuch as the one
who knows that "D" above middle "C"
was broken is bound to test the vitality
of this note, and begins to pound on it,
and if by chance the note gives way.
which could happen, and the player by
the way notices the shank tied up, this
surely leaves a bad impression.
Play safe. I will admit when servicing
an old upright, there is something
28
lated that it cannot be patched up. note
in particular the spoon leans to the left
in the bass, and they lean to right in
the treble, one should exercise care
when bending the spoons in opposite
directions.
Use a pair of pliers that will hold the
wood thoroughly firm at the base of the
spoon. That will prevent splitting when
bending to the left or right, more so
when wood is dry.
The slogan is, keep the hammer
shanks in your inside pocket and play
safe.
wrong in the order just described, it
does take plenty of time to do a job
fit to lok at, besides the other adjust-
ments that go with it.
It is also true beyond doubt that many
of the old-time actions have the con-
tinuous brass flange rail, and the action
must be removed to repair same, at the
same time there is no excuse for dodg-
ing clean-cut workmanship. The whole
story narrows down to this — replace
with new units, instead of patching up.
In previous articles I have stressed
the idea of always carrying necessary
supplies, especially a few hammer
shanks.
In case you do unavoidably run out
of supplies, then don't forget the next
best move. Substitute, in other words,
exchange one for the other, i.e.. take
the broken one out, put it in the last
end of bass or No. 1, with No. 1 taking
the place of say "D" above middle
"C". There you have a sure, safe, solid
replacement and the defective unit can
do no harm in the last note in the bass.
There is one catch here . . . should,
let us say, a whippen be so badly muti-
Musical Intervals
The next item of interest is concern-
ing musical intervals, the tuner's yard-
stick. It must be understod that the oc-
tave is always to remain perfect, come
what may. Many excellent tuners try to
stretch the octave, but this can only be
accomplished after considerable train-
ing and experience.
The musical interval between two
tones is the ratio of their frequencies,
the frequency of the higher tone being
taken as a numerator of the fraction.
Two musical tones are said to be in
unison when their frequencies are as
1:1, that is, when the ratio of their fre-
quencies is unity.
The interval two tones is called an
octave when the ratio of their fre-
quencies is 2.
ASPT Committees Appointed
Recently appointed regional vice
presidents of the American Society of
Piano Technicians Inc., include Percy
W. Gatz, of Great Kills Staten Island,
N. Y. C, C. B. Davis, Vancouver, Wash.,
Harry K. Hall, Hopewell, Va., Floyd
Quails. Muskogee, Okla., and Herbert
Kilinski, Miami, Fla. The membership
committee is composed of J. M. Kings-
bury, Wauwatosa, Wis. and Henry Gear-
man. Cary, 111. Theodore F. Gose, Chi-
cago, 111., is publicity and service di-
rector, Jesse M. Kingsbury, membership
promotion director and Henry Gearman,
regional conventions director.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, MARCH, 1952