John
I have no doubt Studley would have possessed at least one piano hammer.
Although in his exhaustive book on topic of the Studley chest and
workbench, Don Williams doesn't seem to list one. I did find mention of
a 'piano-regulating' tool, but could not find a photo or description of
it....
Pianos are strung much like guitars and similar instruments, having a
tuning peg which holds tension on the strings. But piano strings require
considerable tension, and so a little thumb button such as you see on
fiddles and guitars would never do. Instead, they are tightened using a
wrench sized to suit the pegs. In my limited experience, they are
generally nice things, plated and brass, with turned hardwood, even
rosewood handles. Salaman refers to it as a tuning hammer, also spinet
hammer and piano wrester. He describes it as
"a small key-wrench with a square, star or oblong hole... used for
turning the wrest pins on which the ends of the piano wires are wound.
The cross handle is sometimes used as a hammer for tapping home the
wrest pins when necessary."
Why they are called a hammer rather than a wrench is beyond me.
Especially since the wooden felt-tipped piano components which strike
the strings to sound them are also called piano hammers.... Autoharps
are tuned with a similar, but smaller wrench. Harps as well.
fwiw
Don
On 2022-07-01 1:05 p.m., John Ruth wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 11:30 PM, Don Schwartz wrote:
>
>> They don't remotely resemble any piano tuning hammers I've ever seen.
>>
> Don,
>
> Thanks for that.
>
> Another Porch dweller suggested looking at the Studley Tool Chest to see if
anything matches. Henry Studley was indeed a piano builder. Whether a builder
ever has need for a tuning hammer is not known to me. In any case, watching a
few YouTubes about the famous chest did not reveal anything resembling the tools
in question.
>
> So, still wondering about the identity of these mystery tools.
>
> John Ruth
>
>
>
>
>
--
God's away on business - Tom Waits
"...it's just a humpty dumpty world" - Ry Cooder
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