Chapter 10

Insert the felt pick (which should contain only one point, and not three or four, as they usually do) in the point of the hammer and give it a rotary motion, so to speak, loosening up the felt and giving it its original elasticity. Do not pick up the felt at the point. This method, which is resorted to by many tuners, is injurious to the hammers and really does no permanent good. Another method which is very good, and a very easy one, is to take your parallel pliers and squeeze the felt slightly at the point. Apply the pliers at right angles with the hammer (if the action of the upright, your pliers will be in an upright position) and catch the hammer at a depth of about three-quarters of the thickness of the felt. If the hammers are very hard it may be well to use both the pliers and the pick; but care must always be taken not to get the hammers too soft, and extreme care must be taken not to get some softer than others. Some hammers are always used more than others and, of course, these will need more softening. Usually those at the extreme ends of the instrument will need no softening at all, but sometimes the bass will bear considerable softening. After going over them in the above way, try them by playing the chromatic scale and you will invariably find some that need additional attention. Be sure that no hard tone is left, as such a condition is a great annoyance to a delicate ear.

~Singing.~--When a damper is out of order and does not do its work properly, they often say the tone _sings_. They say the same thing about the reed organ when a pallet sticks or a key stays down. Sometimes this term is used to express the grating vibration which has been treated under the head of _sympathetic rattle_.

~Tin-panny.~--This term is often used and generally means that the instrument is out of tune, and especially that the unisons are out. Sometimes it is used to express a _hollow_ quality of tone; but you will rarely, if ever, hear a piano spoken of in this way if it is in correct tune. Any piano out of tune badly may be said to sound tin-panny.

~Bass-ey.~--This term expresses a very harsh bass. Imperfect octaves or unisons in the bass of a piano give rise to the use of this term. If the bass of the instrument is decidedly flat, the same term is sometimes used to express the condition.

~Harsh.~--This term, when it does not apply to the voice of the piano, generally reflects upon the work of the tuner (?). Chords are _harsh_ when they contain over-sharp thirds, bad fifths, octaves, etc. Take care that your temperament contains no bad chords, and after you are all through, see that all tones have stood, and that you have left no bad unisons or octaves. One or two carelessly tuned tones may disparage your otherwise creditable work.

~Questions.~--Questions are often asked the tuner concerning the care of the piano. Be prepared to answer any reasonable question that may come up, which your knowledge of the instrument should enable you to do. In regard to temperature, moisture, etc., an extreme either way is the thing to avoid. A very dry or hot atmosphere will crack the varnish, warp the wooden parts, crack the sound-board, cause parts to come unglued, etc. On the other hand, too much moisture will rust the steel parts, strings, etc.; so the "happy medium" is the condition to be desired. As to keeping pianos closed, a question you will often be asked, we think it is better to keep them open at all times than to keep them closed at all times; because, if they are kept open they are subjected to the changes of the atmosphere, which will rarely permit the piano to become either very damp or too dry. In a word, a room that is healthy for human beings is all right for the piano.

~Seasons for Tuning.~--The prevalent idea in regard to this matter is that pianos should be tuned either at the beginning of cold or of warm weather. In our experience, we have found that it makes no difference when the piano is tuned if it is kept in the living room. If, however, a piano were tuned upon a warm day in the fall and then allowed to remain in a room in which the temperature suddenly fell to zero, we could not expect it to stand in tune; and much less, if the room is heated up occasionally and then left for an interval at the mercy of the weather. Persons who treat their pianos in this way should have them tuned about four times a year.

INDEX.

Action, 17 brackets, 24 of grand piano, 37, 38, 62 of square piano, 32, 34 removing, square and grand, 38 replacing, square and grand, 39 requisites of, 17, 18 top, of square piano, 34 trap, of square piano, 19, 34

Advantages of two-octave temperament, 171

Ancient instruments, 13

Back check, adjustment of, 49 and back catch, 18, 27, 28, 33, 37 wire, 27

Balance pin, 21 rail, 21

Bearing bar, 17

Beats, waves, and pulsations, 73, 150 of unison, octave, and major third, 154 cause of, 77, 150

Black lead, use of, 64

Block rail, 27, 51

Bottom or capstan, adjustment of, 48, 99 or key rocker, 23, 33, 48, 56, 57

Bracket bolts, 25

Bridle, 28 putting in new, 50 wire, 28, 50

Bridges, 16, 17 split, 173

Building of upright piano, 16

Butts, 28 and flanges, repairing of, 59

Capstan, 24, 48

Cause of beats 27, 150

Center-pins, 25 putting in new 52

Clicks at release of key, 51, 52

Compromises, the, 99, 100

Continuous mute, 89

Damper lever, 29 felt, softening, 54

Damper, of grand piano, 37 of square piano, 36, 60 rod, 30 rod, squeaking of, 55 spoon, 29 springs broken, 54

Dampers, 18, 29

Damping, defective, 54, 60, 61

Ditonic comma 144

Evolution of the piano, 12

Extension, 23

False waves, 160, 161

Fifths, beats of, 79 not all tempered alike, 105, 106 tempering of, 79, 104

Final inspection, 172

Fischer System of temperament, diagram of, 82

Flanges, 25 repairing of, 59

Guide pins, 23

Hammer, butt, refelting, 51 capping with buckskin, 59 felts, cleaning, 34 gluing, 54 hardening, 54 softening, 54 trimming, 60 voicing, 54, 104 head 29 rail, 29, 33 shank or stem, 29, 53 broken, 63 renewing, 53 spring, 52 sticking, 52

Hitch-pins, 16, 17

Instrumental attachments, removal of, 118

Intervals flattened, 157 sharpened, 157

Ivories, regluing, 64

Jack, 26 repairing of, 50, 58 sluggish, 57 -spring broken, 58

Key, defects in, 47, 48 leads, 22 organ, sticking, 185, 186 removing, square piano, 56 squeaking, 64 sticking, 46

Lead, in keys, 22 black, use of, 64 loose in key, 64

Length, tension, and weight of strings, 75

Loud pedal, 19, 30

Main rail, 25

Mathematics of tempered scale, 126

Metal plates, 15

Mute, continuous, 89, 90

Mutes, setting in upright piano, 117-120 in bass, 121 beyond temperament, 120 in square piano, 122 on nodal points, 161

Octave, dividing into major thirds, 134 into minor thirds, 140 perfect fifths, 142

Octaves, relative vibration of, 78

Organ, reed, tuning and repairing the, 178 bellows, leaks in, 187 capabilities of, 179 cleaning, 180 examination, 183 keys sticking, 185, 186 pallets, 186 pedal defects, 188 reeds, to find, 184 tuning, 190 stops, 182 disconnected, 184 sympathetic vibration, 189

Over-tension, 114

Panel, removing of, 75

Parts of grand action, 38 of square action, 34

Pendulum to aid in judgment of a second of time, 104

Piano frame, 15 tuner, requisites of, 7, 70

Pianos, special use of, 85, 86

Pitch, concert, 127 international, 81, 127

Pitch, left to tuner's judgment, 86, 87, 89 to determine most favorable, 85

Professional hints, 193

Questions asked by owners, 211

Ratio of intervals, 132

Reed organ. See _Organ_.

Regulating button, 26, 51 rail, 26, 36

Repairing small wooden parts, 63

Repetition of stroke, 18, 27

Searching for articles on sound board, 44

Seasons for tuning, 198

Soft pedal, 29, 36, 38

Sound board, 16 split, 44 unglued, 45 waves, interference of, 78, 150

Splicing piano wire, 176

Spring rail, 29

Stringing of upright, 16, 17

Strings growing sharper, 88 putting in new, 174, 175 rendering through bridges, 112, 114 splicing, 176

Study and practice of tuning, 66

Sustaining pedal, 30 squeaking of, 55

Sympathetic rattle, 43

Syntonic comma, 132

Systems of temperament, various, 163

System A, 165 B, 166 C, 167, 168

Tables of relative string length, 131, 136, 140, 143

Temperament, advantages of the two-octave, 171 equal, 97, 144 Fischer system, 74 finishing up, 156 introductory remarks on, 68, 72 rationale of, 128, 139 requisites of, 133 setting, specific instructions, 85 theory of, 97 unequal, 98 various systems, 163-168

Tension, equalization of, 111, 112

Terms to express tone qualities, 193-196

Testing by thirds and tenths, 170

Tests, chords, 94, 99, 103

Third, excessive sharpness of, 95, 103

Thirds, major, 135 major, sharper than perfect, 135 minor, flatter than perfect, 141

Tones, harmonic, 120, 130

Touch, altering the, 48

Treble, extreme, sharper than perfect, 159

Tuning, instructions for first experiments in, 92-95 hammer, manipulation of, 110, 115, 116 pins, marking of in square, 122 loose, 173 setting of, 112-114 the bass, 160 the treble, 157, 159

Vibration numbers, comparison of, 137, 146, 147, 148

Watchmaker's screwdriver, use of in piano repairing, 63

Wippen, 25

Wire splicing, 176

Wooden parts, shrinking, rattling, 59 repairing of small, 63

[Transcriber's note:

1. Bold text is enclosed in tilde (~) characters.

2. On page 197, 'tones' has been misspelt in the original text as 'tonse'.]