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 (take out any possible twist) and strike the key hard
(maybe double or triple forte, not fffffff).  You don't want to break
keys or strings, and you certainly don't want to injure the fingers.

Piano tuners makes their living with their ears and don't want to
damage their hearing either.  When Dan showed me his "karate chop"
string setting technique, it was only because his fingers were injured.
It was a "karate chop" motion and he was not striking the key any
harder than he should have.

I am leaving out a lot of important information which I have read in
PTG Journals, test study guides, at conventions, seminars, etc., and
found on my own through experience.  It is a lot to "hash" out here.

As far as electronic verses aural tuning goes, both methods can yield
excellent concert hall quality results.  Someone mentioned Franz Mohr
as a great aural tuner from Steinway.  A lot of MMDers don't know that
the PTG (Piano Technicians Guild) held aural verses electronic tuning
competitions.  In Chicago, 500 music experts judged the two tunings
and Jim Coleman who used electronic devices won with 55% of the vote.
The second competition in Florida was a 51-49% win for the aural tuner
Virgil Smith.

It takes a lot longer to develop (become competent) as a tuner aurally
verses electronically.  With a quality electronic device, I didn't have
to worry about counting beats or comparing beat rate speeds -- I could
focus my attention on "hammer technique," as well as setting the pin
and string.  I described in an earlier post how I tune now.  My next
goal is to learn the _really_ advanced type of electronic tuning that
Jim Coleman was doing, and maybe get more into aural tuning as well.

Joining the PTG is not for any "player rebuilder" with a fragile ego.
(I was a member for 20 years.)  Most members in my area primarily tune
pianos and they are very good at it.  How and how well one tunes pianos
appears to me to be _the_ most important thing which determines how much
respect one receives as a piano technician.  I seemed to be near the
bottom of the "pecking order," but I think I can now give most of them
a "run for their money, tuning wise."

Bill Maguire