Re technique for a poorly rending beast, the best I can suggest are:
-only tune on moves up, because downward moves or flexing simply will not give you a reliable reading of where the tension in the front segment is. If you move down, string pitch will drop within a half hour, randomly at first on a couple, and then more after a few days.
-develop a lever technique, that lets you feel with ultra precision, how much you move the pin foot. This way, as you move the pin to raise the pitch, when the pitch inevitably doesn't move, you say "BS" to the string. IE, If I know I moved the foot a tiny amount, but there is no indication I raised pitch/tension, I don't keep turning the pin foot (the part in the block). Rather, I flex the pin gently (or not so gently) until there is some indication of upward movement. Over shooting is a pain, because you can't nudge down, but have to start all over again. The trick is to learn to feel tiny tiny increments of pin movement. When you can feel tiny tiny pin movements, you have at least this feed back. Then, when the pitch does not follow your tiny movement, you know you have to convince the string over friction bearings. The goal is to find a way to deduce string segment tensions, without the normal feedback we depend on.
Problem with this is its very difficult to finesse unisons. Sometimes you can finesse, and other times, you'll just drive yourself nuts.
The other big thing, is to use the above suggestions, in concert with a fine resolution ETD. I use Only Pure. Since there is no aural feedback to be had, regarding tensions of the string segments, read the display for tiny movements of pitch, or compare the tiny movements you convinced the pin to make, with changes in the visual reading. When the pitch does not follow your tiny pin movements, you can be very precise on how much to flex the pin to move the pitch an amount that "should" match your pin foot movement.
On really bad notes or pianos, I will tune each string of the unison to the display. Then, after you are pretty sure you got the tensions in the segments petty close, physically flex the pin to fine tune for that little finessing unison tweak....It takes time...be nice to yourself, as the cards are stacked against you.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2020 15:25
From: Jim Ialeggio
Subject: Hailun Stability
Bill, If you are a Hailun dealer, trying to get them to change the angles I would think would be a hopeless task. Substituting co-polymer would be effective, and they would not need to change their castings, if they either experimented with it, or had someone tell them how to do it.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2020 15:06
From: Jim Ialeggio
Subject: Hailun Stability
I gave a chapter technical of an experiment I did on a Chinese Hallet and Davis which was hell to tune...so bad I refused to tune it after trying for about 2 years...ended up at the chiropractor every time I tried to tune it. 45 deg termination angles throughout, two wide radiused brass counterbearings in some places and dense felt after all the counterbearing(s). This was an ideal candidate for co-polymer counterbearings, and modified angles. It worked. Also restrung to get rid of the stuff they cynically referred to as steel wire. Profiled all agraffes and capo terminations and ca'd the bridge pins, and diaphramed the bass of the board in a very simple manor.
Taking the beast apart, also gave me the opportunity to see how baldy they missed or didn't miss in the fabrication. It turns out, they were actually pretty close to making a nice instrument. The heavy industrial stuff and board was quite good. The problems were ones of knowledge (or giving a shit...not sure which one). The action as well was configured to fit some other piano. All of these were rectified, shanks & hammers tossed and replaced with WNG & Bacons, and the piano became an excellent instrument...sold for 1.5X than it was sold for new in the US, to the first pianist who sat down to play it. So...they have possibilities...it really sounded quite good with custom work done to it.
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Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2020 14:00
From: Jon Page
Subject: Hailun Stability
Try lubricating the counter bearing surfaces to reduce excessive friction/drag. I do it all the time and tuning is a breeze and stable even on high-angle counter bearing applications.
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Regards,
Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@pianocapecod.com
http://www.pianocapecod.com
Original Message:
Sent: 03-24-2020 11:15
From: Ron Bergeron
Subject: Hailun Stability
I have a relatively new Hailun 178 with stability issues. It is several years old, and is past it's settling-in period. The last time I tuned it on February 6, 2020, it had dropped almost 10% after only six months. Both the customer and myself have ruled out the technician's ineptitude. So, what else could it be? The customer reports that "within two weeks (after the last tuning), it became buzzy, tinny, unisons off, and tuning has changed a lot." Has anyone else experienced issues with stability in the new Hailun line or have any suggestions about how to proceed?
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Ron Bergeron, RPT
Austin, Texas
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