Making a piano tuning lever

[dave]

If you want to give tuning a go (which you clearly do) fine but I would buy a proper tool for this. Maybe you already know all this stuff but anyway, turning the pins on a piano needs a lot of force but in a very controlled way (minute movements) i.e. you need a long rigid lever. I think it would be much more fuss to try and make one that buy one and then you can get to the bit you want to - the actual tuning.

As to the tuning itself. (not to put you off) but it really does take considerable practice (I would say years) to do this properly. But heck, have to start somewhere. Yes you do need a "good ear" too as for some of the intervals in the temperament octave(s) you will be listening for very fast beats. You have to know how to fix false beats and understand enhamonicity enough to allow for it (due to the piano wire rigidity effects).

You'll also need muting felt and rubber wedges, plus strong wrists determination and patience. As I say though, not in the least trying to put you off - quite the opposite - just mention this stuff so be prepared for this non-trivial task.

As to tuning to concert pitch, well if the instrument is a semitone or more flat, I would be careful as the strings can snap when trying to pull them to pitch. If you do try, suggest using a toothpbrush to clean the contact points and around the tuning pins to remove any surface contamination.

Personally to accompany a singer - or any other intrument, I'd like a piano at concert A - don't fancy transposing a score at sight Well I suppose you could try asking the singer to sing flat -a bit (then run)... :-)

hth.

ps I've known a few piano tuners who couldn't tune a

[dave]

"us" :-)

[Nick Odell]

Yes, but which one? Bach or Mozart? Bach kept his favourite organs (no smutty interruptions here, please) tuned to A=480 whereas the keyboards that Mozart was working with later that century were generally tuned anywhere between A=400 and A=450.

Nick

[Andrew Gabriel]

,

I stripped a piano down at school, which had spent a few months being drenched everytime it rained during the summer holidays, before anyone noticed it was written off. I took all the lead weights out of the keys, and used them in the Meccano clock kit I was building (which I still have).

I think my parents' piano is standing on those, and I remember lots of them under furniture in my grandparents house.

A bit late now, but should have warned you there's about 40 tonnes force across a piano frame, generated by the strings. If it breaks, it can explode causing bad injuries. Some years ago when piano smashing contests were popular, occasionally the strings weren't slackened off first, and injuries resulted.

[Frank Erskine]

,

...Just a _bit_ late - this was about 50 years ago! Actually I did slacken off all the strings...

[Matty F]

I've managed to make a square hole in mild steel simply by heating it up red hot and driving a hardened steel spike into the end.

Here's the steel being heated in the forge, and the hole:

hole ended up a bit big so it has been heated again and the sides squashed in. I'll file it square later.

Here is the hole being made, and the tools to make the hole - a small round one to start with and the larger square one that I made to match the piano pins:

[Matty F]

hole:

's the finished tuning lever, on top of the piano that I bought for $1:

[Roger Mills]

hole:

> Here's the finished tuning lever, on top of the piano that I bought > for $1:

However, I'm not too optimistic about its prospects for making the piano do exactly what you want to achieve!

[geoff]

[Matty F]

hole:

> > Here's the finished tuning lever, on top of the piano that I bought > > for $1:

Thanks. My initial desire is to get the notes on the right to play higher than the notes on the left. That is not the case at the moment!

I found a business card used as packing underneath the support for the keyboard. It's for "Fredk. B. Howell" who was a proprietor of Howell Bros & McAhan of Dunedin NZ, piano manufacturers and inporters. The company dates around 1890. Mr Howell did make hundreds of pianos but my one was imported from the Everard Piano Co of London.

[Graham.]

I thought the tool in question was called a "Tuning Hammer", but I have no idea why.

I think you are in New Zealand, maybe it's a regional UK or European thing.

[Matty F]

I have seen it called a tuning hammer but I refuse to call it that because it's a stupid name. Just another piece of jargon invented by people who want their craft to seem mysterious and difficult and needing a lifetime of training, i.e. to keep out d-i-yers like us.

My piano was about three notes flat so I have now tuned it to A=440, and will wait until it settles down before fine tuning. I can now play Bach's Jesu on it.

[dennis]

Electronic tuning meters certainly appear to make tuning strings somewhat easier than working off the harmonics of other strings. I have one on my phone that can display the notes and frequencies and its free.