Review of Stuart Isacoff's "Temperament"

All of the piano repair books that I have read have included a short section on the development of equal temperament and it's predecessors, but none of them really dig deeply into the subject. These books did their job of piquing my interest in the topic. For those not familiar, equal temperament is a system of tuning for stringed instruments in which every note within the octave is equally spaced. Basically, this allows a song to be transposed into any key and still sound musically pleasing. In non-equal temperaments there exist so-called “wolf” intervals. Aptly named, these intervals produce sounds that resemble the howling of a wolf and thus had to be avoided by musicians and composers at all costs. So, how was equal temperament developed and why was it so difficult to achieve?

Isacoff's “Temperament” gives an in-depth history of the development of piano tunings and temperaments starting with Pythagoras's perfect fifths in 6th century BC, moving through Da Vinci, mean-tone temperament, Galileo, Zarlino, and Rameau, and finishing with contemporary minimalists such as Michael Harrison and Philip Glass. It also describes the many attempts to circumvent the problems presented by unequal temperament by adding anywhere from five to twenty extra keys to the standard twelve-note octave.

I have mixed feelings about this book. “Temperament” is advertised as an “engaging and accessible account” which to me means that it was not written with the professional piano tuner in mind. This is great news for people with a passing interest in how western music came to sound the way it does. However for those with a more technical interest, it is probably not the book you are looking for. This book does not really get into the math behind the development of equal temperament. The closest it gets to the technical aspect is describing the basic ratios that make a major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, etc. The book seems to be written for history buffs rather than people who really want to understand the mathematical qualities of different temperaments and how they were developed. Also, there is a lot of filler in this book that doesn't really seem relevant to the topic. There are sections of the book where the author will go on a tangent for many pages about the personal lives of 16th century royalty.

Some knowledge of basic music theory will help in understanding the content of the book. For people who are familiar with the word “temperament” and its meaning, but don't have the desire to dig into the hundreds of varieties of just-intonation and unequal temperament, "Temperament" is a thorough account and a fantastic read.

Recent Blog Posts

Choosing a Tuning Hammer

One of the biggest choices a person must make after deciding to tune a piano is which tuning hammer to use.  There are tons of choices out there between different materials, lengths, head angles, and tip lengths.  Most quality tuning hammers are made of three separate parts: the lever, the head, and the tip.  Many low quality hammers (and some high quality hammers) are only comprised of two or even a single piece.  Some levers are sold with a head and tip included, while others are not.

Whatever you do, DO NOT DO THIS. According to the original poster, this setup "works pretty well." This person has obviously never used a real tuning hammer. Not only will it be nearly impossible to precisely adjust a tuning pin this way, it will also likely damage the tuning pins.

Materials

There are four different materials that are commonly used for tuning levers: steel, carbon fiber, aluminum, and titanium, with the first two being by far the most popular.  Wood is often used as well, but only to create a comfortable handle, never as a structural element.

steel

Steel tuning levers come in all shapes, sizes, and prices.  Steel is stiffer than titanium but more flexible than aluminum or carbon fiber.  Stiffness is a very desirable quality as a stiffer lever will flex less and give better feedback about whether or not the tuning pin is actually turning.  Look for levers made of tubular steel rather than solid steel rods.  They provide extra stiffness without any extra weight.   Most of the cheapest tuning levers are made of solid steel with a wood handle.  These are often advertised as "student" model levers.  There are many higher-end steel levers available as well.

carbon fiber

Carbon fiber has the benefit of being light and extremely stiff at the same time.  It ranks higher in both categories than any of the other options.  Appropriately, it also ranks at the top of the price chart.

aluminum & titanium

Aluminum and titanium rank 2nd and 4th for stiffness and 2nd and 3rd for weight, respectively.  Titanium is comparable to carbon fiber with respect to price, while aluminum is generally in between carbon fiber and steel.  Both are much less common than steel or carbon fiber.  Aluminum has the potential to create a very stiff, lightweight, and reasonably priced lever.  Titanium is generally a poor choice due to expense and lack of stiffness.

See my review of the KineOptics PTH-5-1 Aluminum Tuning Hammer

Length

An extension lever.

Theoretically, a long lever is better than a short lever.  This is because most tuning is comprised of making very small rotational adjustments to the tuning pins.  If your goal is to turn a tuning pin by one degree, the end of a 254 mm (10 inch) long lever must move from its starting position by 4.3 mm.  A lever twice as long (20 inches) will only turn the pin about 1/2 a degree if its end is moved 4.3 mm.  Basically, small adjustments are easier with a long lever.

Now, you wont find a 20 inch lever for sale anywhere, because the other thing to consider is how it will fit inside the piano (let alone inside your tool bag).  Most levers are between 10" and 14" long.  Some are marketed as "extension" levers which start out somewhere around 10" but can be extended to provide more torque.  Some extend up to 18"!   Many compact levers under 10" are also available for use in tight quarters in the low bass and high treble.  These are usually only used as a companion to a full sized lever.

The other problem is that length is a double-edged sword.  The longer a lever is, the more flexible it will be.  This is particularly a problem with steel and titanium levers.  Many tuners also report that the mechanism used in extension levers introduces a lot of flexibility.

Tip Length

Tuning tips (the socket that fits over the tuning pin) vary in length between 1" and 3". The tip length that you choose will probably go hand in hand with the head angle that you choose.  This is because these two factors affect how well the lever will clear any obstructions in the piano (plate struts, stretcher, etc.)  A longer tip (usually used with a shallow head angle) will get the lever further from the pin and will give it more clearance.  A shorter tip (steep head angle) will keep the lever close and give less clearance.

Some tuners claim that a short tip gives them more control of the pin as there is less distance between the head and the top of the pin.

Head Angle

In addition to clearance, head angle affects how the force applied to the lever translates to the pin.  This angle is calculated as a positive deviation from 90 degrees to the lever (i.e. a 10 degree head would give a 100 degree angle between the tip and lever).  Available head angles vary from 5 degrees to 20 degrees.  A head of 0 degrees would provide the most efficient transfer of rotational force from the lever to the tuning pin.  As the angle gets larger, more of the rotational force is translated into a bending of the pin.  This can be illustrated by imagining a lever with a head angle close to 90 degrees (the lever and tip are almost in a straight line).  Trying to turn the pin by pushing on this lever would be completely ineffective and result in breaking the tuning pin.

Recent Blog Posts

The Cost of a Piano Tuning

The first question on most people's minds when it comes to getting their piano tuned is "How much does a tuning cost?"  The short answer is that most tuners charge between $100 and $150 for a basic tuning.  However, those numbers really don't tell the whole story .

If it has been more than a few years since a piano was last tuned, there is a good chance that the piano will need a pitch raise.  This procedure involves roughly increasing the tension on all of the strings in the piano to approximately the correct pitch (or slightly above) before fine tuning.  A pitch raise increases the amount of time required for a tuning and most tuners will charge an extra $25-$50 for it.

A piano tuner might also run into broken strings or issues with the piano action that need to be fixed for the piano to play properly.  While many piano technicians wont charge extra for a few minutes of repair or regulation work, any strings or parts that need to be replaced will add to the parts cost of your bill as well as potentially adding an hourly fee for labor.  

If there are no piano tuners in your area, you may have to pay a travel fee to get a tuner from the nearest town/city to come to you.

All this is just to say that the cost of a piano tuning is often on a case-by-case basis and you should communicate clearly with your  piano tuner to make sure you understand what they will be billing you for.

Recent Blog Posts

Loose Tuning Pins CA Glue Repair

The Kimball upright that lives on the covered back porch at my house has had plenty of issues that I've been knocking out one at a time over the past year or two.  Probably the most annoying problem is that many of the tuning pins are not as tight in the pinblock as they should be.  The pinblock is a laminated block of hardwood mounted in the piano with holes drilled in it that the tuning pins fit tightly into.  In this piano, as with many others, the pinblock is hidden behind parts of the piano cabinet as well as the cast iron plate.  Some of the tuning pins here turn with only a pinky finger's worth of force on my tuning wrench.  That's not good, and it means that this piano only holds a tune for a very short amount of time before the tension of the strings and the pounding of the hammers causes them to go flat.

In Pianos Inside Out by Mario Igrec, he describes several labor-intensive processes to remedy this problem including replacing the original tuning pins with oversize ones or even replacing the entire pinblock.  However, he also details a much simpler process that can be used if the pinblock still has integrity but just needs a bit of extra friction on the tuning pin.

To tighten up the tuning pins, he recommends treating the pinblock with CA glue (a.k.a. "super glue").  The piano needs to be laying on its back so that gravity will pull the glue through the holes in the cast iron plate and into the pinblock.  In the picture above, I've strapped the piano to an appliance hand truck which will give me more control when tipping the piano.

Here you can see the holes in the plate that I will be feeding the glue into.  In some pianos there are wooden bushings that support the pin as it passes through the plate.  This piano does not have these bushings.  This makes applying the glue much easier, since it doesn't need to pass through a bushing before getting to the pinblock.

I ran a couple of two-by-fours down through the handtruck in order to get more leverage while tipping the piano.  These things are heavy, so make it as easy as you can and get a friend or two to help.

I've also laid down an even larger board that I will rest the piano on.  This board will make it easier to get the piano back upright after the repair is finished.  Make sure you remove the action from the piano before you tip it over!

Here is the glue that I will be using.  I bought this from the wonderful folks at Pianotek Supply Company.   Basically, this stuff is just really thin super glue.  Normal super glue is too thick to really penetrate into the pinblock.  Don't glue your fingers together and try not too breathe in the fumes.

The little straw helps me to get the glue right into the tuning pin hole.  I just keep adding glue until it seems saturated and the hole stays full for a few seconds.  All of the tuning pin holes need to be glued in one pass because after the glue has dried the pinblock will be sealed and any glue applied after that won't penetrate the wood.

Tuning pins before applying CA glue.

Tuning pins after applying CA glue.

I ended up using a little under 2 oz. of CA glue for this, which is less than half of the bottle that I bought, but would have been about 20 of the standard size tubes of super glue.  I let the pins dry a few hours before tipping the piano back upright.  I then let it dry another couple of days before attempting to tune it and I can say that there is definitely an improvement in the torque required to turn the tuning pins.  Apparently there is debate about the longevity of this repair which I can't comment on yet, but I'll revisit this post later to comment on it.

Recent Blog Posts