Tuning key

[Pangur Ban]

This has got to be the best tuning key ever.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Gregg Bailey]

Nice! Who makes it?

-Gregg

[Pangur Ban]

Jonathan Letcher of Silver Spear.

[talfryn]

Thank you for showing this. Looking at the picture it showed me an obvious solution to a small problem. The key shown appears to be a handle made to fit a central heating radiator bleed key, it’s probably a lot more than this 🙂 . I never throw any components away, so I have had 30 tuning pins recovered from an old harp made in Pakistan which unfortunately was too far gone to repair, so I stripped components and put them away for another day. Unfortuately the tuning pins have a non standard square head, which is either too tight or loose for the Camac, Dusty and Musicmakers keys i have in the workshop. Seeing this picture I tried a few radiator bleed screw keys and one of them fits perfectly. Problem solved.. It’s not a big job to make a handle as shown…
Why I hadn’t thought of this myself I don’t know, sometimes it takes a photo to give you an idea..
Just one thing I would always recommend using the correct key from a reputable maker, seeing burs and wear on tuning keys is not good for expensive instruments like harps.
This photo has solved my small dilemma, so many thanks….

[Pangur Ban]

I don’t know why, but I now have an image in my mind of Jonathan Letcher cannibalizing an unplayable Pakistani harp for tuning pins to fit his tuning key.

Good to hear that the photo gave you a useful lead.

My tuning key was custom-made for the harp which Jonathan made for me, so I’m sure it is the correct one! Looks like it’s made using the same wood he used for the harp frame. Tuning is so easy using this key because you can get a really firm grip whatever the angle and make very fine adjustments without much effort.

[andy-b]

Dusty Strings makes a Universal Tuning Key:

https://manufacturing.dustystrings.com/products/universal-tuning-wrench

[Biagio]

Dusty’s Universal key is actually a tap wrench inserted into an elegant handle. Very creative idea, not particularly difficult to make if one wihes.

[Author]

Posts