•Hello Craig, I think you will find the screw thread you are seeking answers for is 1.5 mm diameter X .5 mm pitch. Hope this helps, Doug Baker Scarborough, Western Australia

•Craig, The nearest size you will find in cutting dies is the 1/16-inch Whitworth. This is the coarsest traditional thread and the 1/16-inch size 60 threads per inch which equates to a pitch of 0.167 inch or 0.42 mm. If you go for a metric die then the nearest to 1/16-inch is 1.6 mm which has a pitc...

•Has any MMDer had occasion to replace the drive chain on a Kalliope musical Christmas tree stand? The chain should have 8 mm pitch with links 3/8-inch wide. It is approx. 40cm in length. The only source we have found requires a minimum purchase of 100 feet at about $1.60 per foot. Don Day ...

•I was tuning a Lester player piano shortly after 9/11 when the plate exploded in the high treble area. It was a pitch raise tuning and I was on my third go 'round in tuning it. It turned out that the metal strut (the one even with the keyframe) had broken. There would have been no way to see this a...

•Without exception, every Seeburg E or K that I have seen playing a xylophone had a J.C. Deagan xylophone tuned to A=435. It is ever so slight a drop in pitch compared to A=440. I would never try to retune to A=440 an old xylophone that was originally made as A=435. I have a xylophone in my collecti...

•I tune my "L" with no trouble by just lifting the lid. I cheat on the initial pitch/tuning/temper by matching it to my freshly tuned player piano sitting next to the L, then via octaves to itself. I have never found any reason to remove anything in the piano other than the light bulbs, mandolin bar...

•[ Robbie remarked in 110324 MMDigest: >[ ... Popper called it a "Swanee Whistle". The position of the >[ sliding piston is calibrated for each note, which assures better >[ pitch intonation than can be achieved by most human musicians! >[ See & hear it playing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P9d...

•I would imagine that one of the three strings is detuned somewhere around 10 cents sharp or 10 cents flat. You only have to have one string detuned and the other two to be 'on pitch'. Having two strings out of tune would not sound nice, as you have to have some reference point. On an accordion, whe...

•Nothing magical about it. It's what you might call a "piano celeste." Temperament strings are all tuned to concert pitch, but one unison string is tuned slightly flat, just enough to produce a slight beat. You can also tune the other unison string slightly sharp but that might be a bit over the top...

•To start with, you set the temperament, making certain that one string of each note is up-to-pitch (A=435 Hz is okay on older pianos built for that pitch), and the others fairly close to the chosen pitch for equalizing string tension. Achieving this first step will take several tunings if the piano...

•Kyle Irwin asks about tuning a small 20-key barrel organ and surmises that it is tuned to A=435 Hz. Don't assume anything as far as pitch and temperament are concerned. Firstly, the scale will be written on the keyframe, and if not, one can ascertain the scale, particularly on a small organ, by pla...

•If you look in the MMD Archives, you can find my posting about the tuning of xylophone bars and the link to an Excel spreadsheet that will give starting dimensions for bars of a given pitch. The posting may be dated, but the physics is not. http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/199803/1998.03.21...

•Wear a respirator when sanding rosewood, since its dust is a known carcinogen. Also, assuming that sanding heats the wood a little, let it cool to room temperature before testing the pitch again. This is especially important when tuning metal bell bars. Art Reblitz http://www.reblitzrestorations.co...

•Assuming the pins are tight, I have always tried to 'set' the pins and deliver a reasonable 'blow' to the respective key. Setting the pins is to raise the string pitch slightly higher then ease the pin to the correct pitch. This takes the unwanted torsion from the pin shafting which can be on the v...

•Pin setting and string equalization is two different things. For years I was doing it wrong. I could not understand why, during a pitch raise, I was ending up with each octave flatter and flatter as I went up the scale. I was tuning the piano to itself after setting the temperament with an electron...

•One shouldn't have to pound the key to set the string. The idea is to set the tuning pin so the pitch is _very_ close before using the "hard" test blow. If the pitch is flat of where you want it then tune it a tiny bit sharp of where you want it. Apply counter clockwise pressure to the tuning pin (...

•Not to contradict Robbie Rhodes, but to merely re-state his description in more down-to-earth terminology: VIBRATO is a fluctuation in the PITCH of a note or tone; i.e. the pitch wavers slightly above and below the base pitch. This is the effect employed by singers, violinists, cellists, etc. to "w...

•Matthew asks why it is not possible to use the square punches to cut music for a keyless organ. The standard pitch for most organs is 3.5mm, whether they are keyed or keyless. There are some, particularly German, organs that deviate from this and also some that use different transport speeds for th...

•A sincere thanks for the help and responses to my prior post [130223 MMDigest]. Tom Chase sent some very good info on how to calculate the parameters needed, and I learned quite a bit (the diametral pitch is 16!). Several others also chimed in with some further info to help identify it, and various...

•Kudos to Scotty Greene for wanting to put the piano in tune correctly with the original pipes. It is a crime to change the pitch of these original pipes to A-440 as they were designed to play at A-435. These pianos are now nearing the 100 year mark and should be preserved. I have never understood w...