Pianotech

Hi Bill,
I've been using an impact hammer on vertical pianos exclusively for over 30 years as I was injured in a car accident in 1989 and couldn't pull a regular lever.  The impact tuning method with a correctly designed hammer is completely different than a standard tuning hammer. True impact lever tuning does not use any upper body or shoulder at all, it's done by forearm action.

With my shoulder injury I was incapable of tuning with a standard lever for several months, but the impact lever (then by Francis Mahaeffey) saved my bacon. I would not have been able to bump or push a regular rigid hammer for about 6 months after my injury.

My son Nate who produces these hammers, and myself realize that impact tuning is not for everyone. It's a different skill than using a rigid hammer. But an impact hammer doesn't need any other techniques, it doesn't need bump and lean. It's complete as it is and a completely self-contained technique. I can set the string and pin perfectly and quickly with my impact hammer, just as well as my regular rigid hammer. The big difference is that the impact lever is not injuring my shoulder, back and upper body.

You don't need to "lean" on the pin with an impact hammer because it doesn't twist or bend the pin to the degree that a regular rigid hammer does. There's almost no pin twisting or bending with true impact tuning. And since I've mastered both impact and rigid tuning techniques, I find I have no problem doing "micro" adjustments to the tuning pin and pitch with an impact hammer. I can do the same micro adjustments as with a regular rigid hammer.

When you "impact" your rigid tuning hammer with your hand and arm, you're doing micro injuries  to your body every time you do it. Eventually many, maybe even most tuners if they have a long career, develop some type of repetitive injury syndrome. Yes, what you're doing works, but true impact tuning with a well  designed impact hammer lets the hammer itself take the beating, not your body.

And full disclosure, I make nothing from the sale of my son Nate's vertical hammers.  I help him out with testing and design on occasion, and am an avid user.

Also IMHO,

Best regards,

Thanks, Dean and Nate, for the details. I needed to hear such a thorough explanation to put my own experience in the context of those who stuck with the technique. I'm also glad to hear, Dean, that this was what allowed you to continue tuning.

When I got mine, it was back in the day when Falconwood pinblocks (and Baldwin's Amberlite) were new on the market, recommended by our fore-fathers Cliff Geers and Willis Snyder. Even when drilled within 10 mills of the 2/0's diameter, torques between 125-150 in/#s were routine. There, Mahaffey's hammer was just the ticket. It did fall short for tuning on the lower end of the torque range. My technique was based on noticing how much pitch change there was before the torsion part of moving the pin gave way to turning (ie. when torsion overcame the block's grip on the very deep end of the pin). On a pin with pinblock grip that low, this switch between twisting and turning was near instantaneous. For my impact hammer to work there, I needed much smaller impacts than I could do (or at least a way of temporarily locking the mechanism).

Dean said…
"When you "impact" your rigid tuning hammer with your hand and arm, you're doing micro injuries to your body every time you do it. Eventually many, maybe even most tuners if they have a long career, develop some type of repetitive injury syndrome. Yes, what you're doing works, but true impact tuning with a well designed impact hammer lets the hammer itself take the beating, not your body."

This is a warning applicable to everyone, even me. What I eventually settled, decades ago, on was a sort of "connected impact", a series of tugs and bumps all of which is born by the wrist and thumb-to-palm web. At age 72, I start to wonder how longer I can take my hands for granted.

BTW, Dean and Nate, I always dreamt of an impact hammer the size of a standard T-hammer. It looked as though your grand CyberHammer simply adds a second handle from the vertical one, then setting these ahndles to 15º off horizontal. Did you ever try a more compact version (ie., T-hammer style)? Did you find that such short arms didn't develop the angular momentum required by tight tuning pins? Or did you just continue the vertical's handle on the grand hammer's design?

Hi Bill,
I've been using an impact hammer on vertical pianos exclusively for over 30 years as I was injured in a car accident in 1989 and couldn't pull a regular lever.  The impact tuning method with a correctly designed hammer is completely different than a standard tuning hammer. True impact lever tuning does not use any upper body or shoulder at all, it's done by forearm action.

With my shoulder injury I was incapable of tuning with a standard lever for several months, but the impact lever (then by Francis Mahaeffey) saved my bacon. I would not have been able to bump or push a regular rigid hammer for about 6 months after my injury.

My son Nate who produces these hammers, and myself realize that impact tuning is not for everyone. It's a different skill than using a rigid hammer. But an impact hammer doesn't need any other techniques, it doesn't need bump and lean. It's complete as it is and a completely self-contained technique. I can set the string and pin perfectly and quickly with my impact hammer, just as well as my regular rigid hammer. The big difference is that the impact lever is not injuring my shoulder, back and upper body.

You don't need to "lean" on the pin with an impact hammer because it doesn't twist or bend the pin to the degree that a regular rigid hammer does. There's almost no pin twisting or bending with true impact tuning. And since I've mastered both impact and rigid tuning techniques, I find I have no problem doing "micro" adjustments to the tuning pin and pitch with an impact hammer. I can do the same micro adjustments as with a regular rigid hammer.

When you "impact" your rigid tuning hammer with your hand and arm, you're doing micro injuries  to your body every time you do it. Eventually many, maybe even most tuners if they have a long career, develop some type of repetitive injury syndrome. Yes, what you're doing works, but true impact tuning with a well  designed impact hammer lets the hammer itself take the beating, not your body.

And full disclosure, I make nothing from the sale of my son Nate's vertical hammers.  I help him out with testing and design on occasion, and am an avid user.

Also IMHO,

Best regards,