We all know how hard it is to tune the upper register of a piano. The higher we go, the smaller the tuning hammer’s travel gets, making it harder and harder to tune the higher notes perfectly. The necessary movement of the tuning hammer in the last octave is almost imperceptible, and tuning is even harder when you consider the stability of the pin after such a tiny adjustment.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could tune the top notes with similar ease as we tune the bass, and thus have even more control over the whole piano?
And that’s exactly what my tuning mechanic does.

If you do a simple math than if a bass string needs 1mm retreat for the adjustment – meaning if the 6mm pin moves 1mm on its diameter to set the pitch right and we hold our tuning hammer 300mm away from the pin center we have approx 19deg which is 50mm travel of your hand holding the hammer for adjustment. That would be quite good range for tuning and does not stress the string all that much.
While 1mm adjustment travel is common on bass, on C7 same move will have dramatic effect on the pitch and you might even break the string.
On C7 you rather move your hand on the hammer 1mm in order to do the same tonal adjustment to what have you done with 80mm move in the bass range.
This decreasing control over the tone is far from ideal but inherent in literally all acoustic pianos nowadays.

In addition, the increasing amount of energy the tuner must involve and control during the tuning which as we know has damaging impact on tuners performance and his or her health too.

The system that I made gives us same adjustment freedom on C7 as you normally have on C4 plus it is tuned with no force just by a movement of your wrist, super light and easy, no stress on any side necessary.
Some might complain that the bass would need too much of an adjustment to set the string. This is just a theoretical comment as the energy involved and the speed of such adjustments plus the increased control is far superior.

The piano with the mechanic had been finished in 2020. I have not been able to find a time to do the proper presentation since then. But that time will come.

Thanks to its adaptability and design, this new tuning system can be truly automated, which is virtually impossible on real pianos with tuning pins.

If we were to follow the natural curve of this design, I would mount a semi-automatic or fully automatic step motors a tuning robot if you will, which would easily move around the piano and make automatic adjustments based on the desired tuning preset. This would be advantageous in concert situations where the piano needs frequent re-tuning and wears out quickly. Even if it means that the system would pre-tune the piano and a flesh-and-blood tuner would give it the final touch.
I have many ideas where this could lead, but I’ll leave it open and let your imagination blossom.