Out of boredom, and to expand my skills, there was a time when I used to choose different notes to set a temperament from. It's not the note you start from, it's the result that counts.

It's very close to the beginning - basically right at the start.
A4 to fork
A3 to A4 (4:2 +)
F3 to A3 (estimate)
F4 to F3 (4:2 +)
C#4 to A3 (to fit into the set of contiguous M3s)
If the CM3s are not beating progressively, then F3, F4 and C#4 are corrected. Once they are progressive, the rest of the temperament is constructed (using P4s and P5s).

So you see, this particular sequence cannot do without F3 from the very beginning.

I had a call today where a customer wanted their piano tuned but
they could not remember the name of the street they lived on. They gave me nice directions and there house number though.

Still tuning for a piano store for free. Why? Because I still need practice. Started on a baby grand. Stopped when I realized it was in need of repair. One string had a horrible phantom vibration, another string wouldn't change pitch no matter what I did and another sounded like a dying elephant.

Went onto an upright and tuned that. Sounded nice when I finished. Oh, fixed a sticky key. Still working on getting my tunings to 1.5 hours. I'm still hovering around 2 hours.

Where is the store? I've always wanted to know what a dying elephant sounds like, but don't want to get in trouble for killing one.

If the strings were nearby each other you likely got the hammer on the wrong pin. sometimes rusty strings will get caught up at the bearing points and need a greater amount of pin movement to break them free....always go to the flat side first before pulling these up to pitch. Going flat first also prevents string breakage if your accidently on the wrong pin.

I'm setting in my recliner recuperating from my Gallbladder surgery. That's what my last 3 days have consisted of. Friday, Saturday and Sunday and now Monday too. Other than pacing the house when I get bored out of my mind which I do frequently. I have to move around too! Funny how sleepy we get while we heal.

I figured you would be daydreaming about all the delicious but "too rich" foods your going to be passing up on in the future Jerry.

You're right Emmery! I day dream about them every time I turn on the television and it shows me what I'm missing and what I really want! MMMMMMM. M*M's. and more M&M's. How come all the good stuff is soooo bad for us?

There is a positive thing to having that gallbladder removed. You never have to worry about constipation again...just order up a lb of chicken wings and it'll clean you right out (or so I've heard). You might advertise yourself as a "vegan" tuner in the future. I have heard jokingly from native indians that the word "vegan" in their language means "lousy hunter".

ROTFL!

I've been sending Jerry lots of PM's so he won't get too bored.

Yeah, Marty's keeping me occupied! Thanks Marty!

Man!!! You mean to tell me I've gotta give me up them thar, wet burritos? And nummy candy bars n such? awwwwwwwwwwww.

Galling, isn't it?

Jerry, you need to play some appropriate music for your condition... may I suggest The Rolling Stones.

hahaha Emmery and Marty. You know, maybe I'll just set here and get stoned. "Rocking" back and forth in my chair playing rock of ages.

Jer - How can you get stoned when you've been de-stoned?

I think we are about to cross the great granite bridge without a piddle.

I don't know but you guys really rock.

I heard that from one of our state's Abnaki Indians, and he wasn't joking. ('Bet he stole the idea from one of the Cannuk Indians knowing him.)

He also said, "Don't call me Native American. We drove those people out and took their land long before the Europeans thought of the idea."

I think we need to pass a peace pipe with some wacky-tabakee. Better than smoking veggies. Then we can get rid of all the Europeans.

Oops - that's me!

Today I went to see the first of the new toys I get to play with, a new D. The CFX is due in a couple of weeks.

Oooooo. I wanna play!!!! I wanna play!!!! Can I play with it toooooo???

Well, if you show up here, maybe we can go over and play with them together some time. There are a bunch of other pianos going in there, too!

That sounds like fun. One day I think I may have to do just that!

Finished up a hammer job on a church's studio upright which included repinning a BUNCH of loose flanges. Call me picky, but I like to not only use tape to travel the flanges, but also to shim them to get the shanks into place, as well. Since I had to repin about thirty-five butt flanges in the mid-keyboard, why not just handle the shanks that way, rather than heat-and-bend. Since the flange is out, all surfaces are available.

I used a single needle on the Abels. Lots of deeeep needling of the shoulders. There will be more needed, but I will give them some time and soften more at the next tuning in a few months.

I'm just glad I could take over that Sunday school room as a shop for the two days. So a half day yesterday and the entire day today to do all that, then hot hide glue the hammers, tune the piano, and some voicing. It was a good day and was ready to get out of there for supper!

It is adviseable to pre voice vertical hammers, so much easier then to finish the job in the piano. As force is necessary the vertical is less easy.

Gummed tape does not move like adhesive (the glue make the tape slip when pressed) I dont know if it is sold , I have dome from Yamaha, some from Renner and some made with a paper schreder)

Usually when new shanks are installed they are adjusted at their bottom so they space neat despite some unevenesses in butts or flanges. Papering under the flange works but because of the wire that straighen the flanges, some modification may be necessary. You are right to look for a perfect hammer position.

Changing heads on verticals is not easy but worth the trouble.

Electrical shank heater huge tool

Phil,

I hope this is not too stupid a question. I'm trying to understand what you mean by "shimming to get the shanks into place". Would this not be done by spacing (and slightly rotating if needs be) the flanges? Could you elaborate somewhat? Where would you be shimming, to obtain which effect?

Nothing new or dramatic. In fact you are saying the same thing - "spacing". How to do that can vary: Heat bending, paper shimming, or just force it over and hope a tight screw can hold it (not!).

If a shank needs to lean left or right, a piece of paper shim can be glued under one corner of the flange to correct that. It is usually just slipped under a loosened flange with no adhesive. Alternately, the shank could be heated and bent to affect the change. Since I had to disassemble so many butt assemblies in this vertical piano (and only due to that), I decided to permanently attach these shims to the flange as I was doing the repinning work. Old fashioned brown paper packaging tape which has hide type glue on it works well: Just snip into strips, lick and stick. (Joking! No licking with those dirty fingers.)

By sticking the shim to the flange, when I work on a flange the next time for any reason, it doesn't fall away into the action. When that happens, one can often reassemble that part and not realize that the shim is now missing. "Why is this shank out of line now? Why is the travel off now?" I hate it when that happens.

Sure ! With a good quality gummed tape you can glue it without dismounting the butt.

Spacing is similar on verticals than on grands more or less :

First space the flanges, then space the shanks , then space the hammers.

Then travel the hammers and "burn" the shanks, the 2 operations being closely related. Of course with enough experience one can mix the operations, but I find it faster in the end to proceed by order, once roughly, then more precisely. On verticals papering is not easy so I try to be efficient.

A shank that need to be inclined can have its flange papered under one side, with a thick enough paper as to fight the straightening due to the wire or wood lip on the rail

What did I do today?

Well, ... I breathed in and out a lot. Just for laughs I divided the breathing count by two and discovered that the intakes roughly equaled the exhalations. The whole process worked so well that I'm gonna' keep it up and recommend it to everyone I meet.

I also noticed it improved my tuning greatly.

David sat around all day long reading Jerry's posts and everyone else's too. hehe, Jerry did the same thing....