How to string a piano?

Question

How to string a baby grand piano?
I recently acquired a grand piano and not being a piano player myself while at the same time a very musical person I was quite curious about the inner mechanics of the piano, however I did notice something strange upon opening the lid and examinng the strings - it seem that there are 3 strings per note, and 3 tuning pins per note, so the string starts at one pin - runs the length of the piano and comes back to second pin - but what about the 3rd pin?? it appears that the string for the 3rd pin runs the length of the piano and attaches to the pin for the next note? how can one piano string have to different tensions without some sort of clamp - am I missing something? Please help

Answer 1

A string can either be strung through a tuning peg, in which case turning the peg changes the string tension, or merely looped around the tuning peg, in which case turning the peg doesn't change the string tension. Check to see which is the case.



As for the tuning process, one generally puts the tuning lever on the peg, then taps it with a small hammer until the desired note is achieved. Furthermore, pianos are often tuned with a quarter-step 'stretch', meaning as one ascends from the lowest to highest note, the piano gradually becomes a quarter-step sharp. This is done because the interval of a fifth sounds flat (and IS flat) in a equal-tempered tuning.



The following intervals are flat in equal-temperament, and are therefore improved by the quarter-note stretch:

minor 2nd

major 2nd

minor 3rd

perfect 5th

minor 6th



And these others are sharp in equal-temperament, and get worse due to the stretch:

major 3rd

perfect 4th

diminished 5th

major 6th

minor 7th

major 7th

Answer 2

Try these websites.



http://piano.detwiler.us/text.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_tuning

http://billbremmer.com/articles/





All but the lowest notes of a piano have multiple strings tuned to the same frequency. This allows the piano to have a loud attack with a fast decay but a long sustain in the ADSR system.

The three strings create a coupled oscillator with three normal modes (with two polarizations each). Since the strings are only weakly coupled, the normal modes have imperceptibly different frequencies. But they transfer their vibrational energy to the sounding board at significantly different rates. The normal mode in which the three strings oscillate together is most efficient at transferring energy since all three strings pull in the same direction at the same time. It sounds loud, but decays quickly. This normal mode is responsible for the rapid staccato "Attack" part of the note.

In the other two normal modes the strings do not all pull together, e.g., one will pull up while the other two pull down. There is slow transfer of energy to the sounding board, generating a soft but near-constant "Sustain"





http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Frequencies_of_the_audible_range_on_a_twelve_and_eight_equal_tempered_scale.jpg

Answer 3

You should get a tuner's advice

http://www.pianostop.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userslist&listid=10&mbr=service&Itemid=68