I actually don't level strings until the action regulation is done and it's time for voicing. And I've found it makes more sense to file the hammers level (across the strike point) and then mate the strings according to a decades-old routine, using the shift position:
1.) Listen to the mating pattern (L/C/R strings) in the standard position. This could be Open/Open/Closed (O/O/C), O/C/O, C/O/O, O/C/C, C/C/O, C/O/C.
2.) apply full U.C.shift, and listen to the mating pattern again. (N.B. if missing the L string, you only get top hear the C/R hand strings - not a deal-breaker)
3.) Three possibilities:
a.) The pattern stays the same = strings are out-of-level
b.) The pattern moves = the hammer strikepoint is not level
c.) The pattern changes = both hammer and strings are our of level
The advantages here is that 1.) you don't need the dampers out to set the level at the strikepoint on the string, and 2.) you get to find out if your assumption about the levelness of the hammer strikepoint is wrong. (There's nothing worse for the U.C. than reshaping a hammer strikepoint to conform to a string out of level, in the standard position without checking the U.C. position.)
And finally, every time string leveling comes up in this Forum, I ask who else has ever studied the string height in mils, using a dial indicator in a machinist vice, 1.) sliding on one string, away from the strike point and 2.) sliding the indicator across all three strings at the strikepoint. This is a basic engineering study, that apparently no one else bothers with.
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William Ballard RPT
WBPS
Saxtons River VT
802-869-9107
"Our lives contain a thousand springs
and dies if one be gone
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
should keep in tune so long."
...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-17-2023 07:34
From: David Love
Subject: Damper installation timing
Keith Akins wrote:
"I levelled the strings three weeks ago" is kind of like saying, "I tuned the piano three weeks ago". String level is not stable and will vary over time --"
I think that's a bit overstated. Quite unlike tuning, I don't find string leveling unstable at all and rarely find, once the pitch is stable on a newly strung piano, that leveling changes much, if at all. Nor do I find that string leveling can be "heard". What you can hear is poor string mating and while it is certainly best to level strings before you engage in hammer/string mating, if the strings are mated on unleveled strings (yes it is possible to do that), then leveling the strings will actually mess up the mating and you certainly can hear that.
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David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
Original Message:
Sent: 04-16-2023 01:37
From: Keith Akins
Subject: Damper installation timing
This thread is the second instance recently where it seems that people think that one levels the strings and then they are level. Actually, "I levelled the strings three weeks ago" is kind of like saying, "I tuned the piano three weeks ago". String level is not stable and will vary over time -- and especially with newly restrung pianos. As with tuning and regulating, string levelling is an iterative proces -- just like multiple passes in tuning or as Steve Jellen used to say about action work, "you have to regulate it in order to regulate it".
So, the important takeaway is not about when strings are levelled --as though there's some "magic bullet" moment to accomplish that supposedly one-time task but rather to recognize that string level is an ongoing need. Personally, I have my (home made) string hook out when I tune most grand pianos. Doing service that way has earned me many customers who could hear the difference.
Keith Akins, RPT
Piano Technologist
Original Message:
Sent: 4/15/2023 11:05:00 AM
From: David Love
Subject: RE: Damper installation timing
I usually install them pretty early. I don't like to level the strings until I have gotten the piano to pitch and fairly stable. Otherwise you can end up with the bend at the capo or agraffes not really being in the proper place.
For leveling use the flat side of a 6 inch metal ruler. The method is, with the ruler in contact with the left string (or right) and leaning slightly left, start plucking the right hand string as you move the ruler to a vertical position. When it touches the right string, which you'll hear as you are plucking, then hold the ruler still and pluck all three strings. You'll immediately be able to tell which string is low and also the degree to which the ruler is at 90 degrees to the string when all are "damped" tells you if the string plane is level. With the thin metal ruler it's no problem to check the string leveling in the capo section where the dampers are very close and don't allow a leveling bubble gauge to fit there.
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David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
Original Message:
Sent: 04-13-2023 14:21
From: Tim Foster
Subject: Damper installation timing
Hi all,
I am almost finished installing all the plain wire on my rebuild and then I will install the bass strings. At what point do you recommend installing dampers? After installing new hammers? After aligning with grooves in old hammers and chipping? Something else? I'm having trouble thinking this one through.
Thank you for your input!
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Tim Foster
New Oxford PA
(470) 231-6074
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