Hi, I'm tuning on a PRN basis for TAMIU here in Laredo. They finally decided their black cages full of warbling songbirds and howling seals needed a little discipline. (The grands are better, 50 to 80 cents sharp on the top octave though, every piano.) They have a bunch of Boston uprights (UP-125 II) that are proving quite annoying. There is very little discernable friction between the tuning pin and the speaking portion of the wire. I got suspicious, went to the restroom and got some white paper. Swiped the wires, yellow stuff, swiped the underside of the pressure bar, more yellow stuff. Not very thick, but collecting dust anyway. When I massaged the wires with the beat suppressor after the first pitch correction pass I noticed that the wires were collecting a little dust too, sticky. ... These are fairly new pianos, couple years at most. When I say low-friction, I mean I can put my little hammer vertical on a pin and walk a unison above and below tune without stressing my pinky. Is this normal? Making unisons stable is a bit of a chore. No wonder they were warbling & howling. Do they come from the factory this way? or did one of the past piana toonas oil everything up? Over lubricated in Laredo, Andrew
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