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  • 1.  Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-11-2019 15:25
    I'm looking for a recommendation for a string leveling tool. Also where to buy it, if it's for sale. Thanks!

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    Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
    Piano Technician / Artisan
    (805) 315-8050
    www.professional-piano-services.com
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  • 2.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-11-2019 16:59
    Here's one from Mother Goose Tools. Here's another type from Charles Faulk. One that levels from beneath from Chris Brown. I use one of many I made myself - the first one pictured (brass) is my favorite. A sampling, on top of the strings using gravity, and below the strings, using a spring or gravity:

    Fred Sturm
    University of New Mexico
    fssturm@unm.edu
    http://fredsturm.net
    www.artoftuning.com
    "Practice makes permanent. (Only perfect practice makes perfect)."






  • 3.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Posted 11-11-2019 18:37
      |   view attached
    Ben,
    Here's mine. Very easy to make. If you go with a string level bubble (Like the Mother goose one) then it needs to have a magnet inserted (machined). Otherwise they are time consuming and not worth it. IMO
    -chris

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    Troubles are Bubbles, and they just float away.
    chernobieffpiano.com
    grandpianoman@protonmail.com
    Knoxville, TN
    865-986-7720
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  • 4.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-11-2019 19:55
    Chris -
    Why magnetic?

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    David Skolnik [RPT]
    Hastings-on-Hudson NY
    917-589-2625
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  • 5.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-11-2019 21:58
    I've tried using a magnet, and found that it will pull the strings into its plane. I do use a weak magnet to level upright strings, but place it within 10 mm of the V bar to minimize that effect.

    A bubble gauge does need to be stabilized, as in this photo, where thumb and finger are just barely touching the level while the strings are plucked. That's why I don't like the Mother Goose tool (copied from Fazioli's): it is short, and you often need to reach down behind a strut to stabilize it, and lean over to try to see the bubble. A level must be placed as close as possible to the strike point, which is usually under the very front edge of the dampers. 

    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain






  • 6.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-04-2023 19:32
      |   view attached

    Fingertip



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    Vince Mrykalo RPT
    www.mrykalopiano.com
    Visit my blog at: www.mrykalopiano.blogspot.com
    Success in tuning, as has been said of genius, is the result of an infinite capacity for taking pains.- Tom O'Meara (Editor, Tuners' Journal 1925)
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  • 7.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-04-2023 21:17

    Agree with Vince! Also, I know the one that Charles Faulk sells is nice. Far superior to the old bubble gushes of the part. (Which is all I have.) But I do have my fingers !! 



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    Kevin Fortenberry
    Registered Piano Technician
    Longview, TX 75602
    806-778-3962
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  • 8.  RE: Recommendations for String Leveling Tools

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 06-04-2023 23:31
    A finger can get the very worst of them, but for efficient and precise work a level works best. Here is a photo of the home made one I made 20 years ago, still working beautifully (I average about half an hour to level a set of strings with it). 

    The best alternative is to do a refined job of travel, squaring hammers, filing the crowns very level, and leveling the strings relative to the hammer crowns. Travel, square and file are needed anyway, but it is at least twice as fast to use a string level.

    Just my two cents. It does require some technique: the level must be steadied while plucking the strings (as seen in the second photo). That also applies to the level sold by mother goose tools, but it is far harder to steady it because it sits so low.

    1stringlevelA.jpg
    2stringleveling1.jpg
    Another alternative is under the strings. Here is a home made version of what Chris Brown sells. It is touchy to have just the right amount of spring tension to give a good read against the strings.string level, spring - 1.jpg

    Another under string design uses counterweight to press against the string.
    under string leveling - 4.jpg

    under string leveling - 5.jpg
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." - Einstein