Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum I'M GOING TO PIANO TUNER H*E*L*L....

Scrimping on proper technical tools is a money loser.

I agree that it's not necessary to have a digital micrometer - an ordinary one is fine, and it doesn't take long to learn how to read one.

I have an analog micrometer and I'm not afraid to use it...

(I also have a string gauge...)

Take that "accuracy" claim for the micrometer with an incredibly big grain of salt. The specmanship which chinese manufacturers apply to their products is sometimes borderline criminal. The micrometer has a "resolution" of .0001". Its accuracy however, is entirely related to how true the two anvils are on the mike, and also how true the spindle thread axis is to the anvil, and also how much play there is on the thread pitch diameters and how well it can be adjusted out with the internal adjusting ring. You are not going to get +/- .0001" accuracy and repeatability out of a micrometer selling for this price. It certainly is capable of measuring wire for our purposes, in spite of this embellishment of its performance.

One of the biggest advantages of the micrometer over the caliper is that you can utilize the friction thimble on it (sometimes they ratchet clik also). This feature allows consistant measuring pressure; the variation in how much pressure you put on the measuring surfaces is the main cause of innacuracy with this tool FWIW.

Having been involved in many intense discussions with Paul678, as have others, its almost surprising there isn't an "I told you so." Well done everyone not jumping all over it. I'm sure the mods are proud. I really hope Paul isn't taking money from these folks.

I made $90 on this last job.

And the piano sounded good after I was done!

Tunelab Pro is an AWESOME program!

Excellent point. I didn't know it was called a friction thimble (makes sense), but I certainly discovered very early on with the micrometer that measurements could vary significantly without using that.



Be very careful what you charge for. Charging customers for work that you are not experienced with or qualified to do, besides being unethical, will come back to bite you.

Paul,

As as fellow beginner, I'd give you this piece of (unsolicited) advice: if you want to get friendly and constructive help from the techs on this forum,
... rather than flaunting your earnings (whether they be justified or not), show a willingness to learn
... rather than flaunting how good your work was, focus on the room for improvement (because there always is some).

Please keep it modest - if not for your own sake, then at least do it for the rest of us, who visit this forum to learn from the professionals.

At St. Reblitz's ivory gate there will be two doors with signs on them. One will say "For tuners who think they have always done the right thing and deserve to Eternally work on the finest pianos in blissful satisfaction." The other door will say "For tuners who know they have not always done the right thing and deserve to Eternally work on the worst pianos in degrading frustation."

Choose wisely, the doors may not lead where you expect them to!

Perhaps a copy of Chris Gudgeon and "Sugar" Ray Carboyle’s book is required.

A Demotivational Guide

Paul, congratulations on getting an ETD's indicator to stand still by moving the tuning pins this way and that. In professional piano tech lingo, this meaans your off your butt and crawling around on all fours. Next up is to get walking by learning what needs to be ignored on the software and finessed by ear. After that, you can train to start running... thats when those finely manipulated wires and pins stay stable longer than a day or two, or after someone plays on them.

As for the piano sounding "awesome", I'm hoping this is more the sentiment of the customer, rather than your own opinion. Kin Hubbard used to say..." The fellow who brags about how cheap he heats his home, always sees the first robin."

The next question is does he have his business affairs (license, taxes, and insurance) all in order? Or does the bamboozled $90 go quietly in to the personal bank account?

If you gonna invest on a micrometer i recommend the disk micrometer since you can take mesures of the strings on place w/o disturbing

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STARRETT-256-N-1-DISC-MICROMETERS-0-1-/261414799998

also theres a special micrometer for wires

http://www.amazon.com/Mitutoyo-147-...amp;sr=1-24&keywords=wire+micrometer

they should be a non expensive ones you´ll have to find them

If the hammer is crooked than this is correct, but if the hammer just isn't in the right spot, you can loosen the flange and space the hammer to hit all three strings.

Best to use the hair iron instead. That way a lot of other wooden components are not being super-heated along with any treble wire…

I stopped using the heat gun because they are so inefficient.

Yes, hair irons work really well to remove heads and shanks neatly. I have modified mine so that it hinges in a way to make the plates parallel at the thickness of a hammer and thus give better contact. I am not sure however about simply repositioning a head insitu.

Hi Chris,
At times I have had a hammer head sink or twist as the glue dries. Leaving the others at rest and moving the offending head forward one is able to grab both sides of the head with the iron, heat the glue and shortly thereafter reposition the head correctly.

The heat gun blows hot air all over the place; heats things up that you don’t want and generally wastes a lot of energy in doing so. The hair iron heats by contact and directs heat to a particular area only, which is much more efficient in my view.

Dan, I only just wonder about the integrity of the glue strength when it has been partially heated and repositioned without going through a proper softening stage without adequate moisture. When using a hair iron I like to drip water on the joint at the same time as heating.

Did not find the hair iron really adequate for shanks but yes to heat recently glued head, why not. For shanks heating pliers or even better the alcohol lamp "finisher lamp.

PVA glues twist the head when drying, unless the hole is not very large.
Not a problem with hide/skin glue. No problem to heat recent hide glue. With a little moisture if necessary. Should be done with a wet cloth usually but this is to unglue totally.

the heat gun is cool to burn the extra fibers on some hammers.

Hi Chris,

I do this as the glue dries, not when completely dry for a few days. Doesn't damage the adhesive strength.