As an example: I tuned a 1918 M, possibly all original, supposedly only driven around the block every week. In very good condition. The young fellow (programmer for Adobe Software) got it for a good price. $15,000. Needs refinishing but he doesn't care at this point. He has been dabbling with tuning it and has enough piano info to be dangerous. Anyway, I tune: the tuning pins are Ok, but not as tight as we like, so with the built up friction in this old piano it is touchy to tune. Very loud piano (good board...no cracks in bridge or anywhere, California, what can I say). But it has all the little annoying stuff you expect from a piano amplified by the bright, loud tone. I spent some time recommending work to do. Too much key dip, too much aftertouch, all the regulation needs work. And voicing...he was reluctant to "poke it too much"... '-] This piano could be so much better with a days work...no vertegri...all the little things we can do with a piano that has a solid foundtation... I think it will be a life changing experience for him when he lets me do all the little things... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 Fred wrote: > Curiously, this is an example of what seems, by your description, to >be a reasonably decent piano badly set up and prepped. I guess you are >saying that the customer overlooks the bad prep because of the name on >the fallboard, and the fact she heard the rebuilder was good. And no >doubt lots of people - maybe most - are pretty suggestible that way, >and aren't all that perceptive and able to make up their own minds >based on their own perceptions. > But the moral I draw from the story is that this customer - and as >much of the public at large as possible - needs to be exposed to well- >prepped pianos. I am convinced from my own experience that this can be >an eye-opening and life-changing experience, and one that will lead to >more sensitivity and demand for excellence of different sorts >(including subtleties of design and materials - like hammers and >soundboards). When most pianos a person comes in contact with are >"horribly out of focus" (as I would put your description of the >condition of the O), it is hard to tell the difference with any >certainty, from the perspective of the pianist. When at least a large >number are "in focus," it becomes possible to discern the real >underlying differences. Not that that will entirely eliminate the knee- >jerk fallboard decal reaction, but I think it helps. > IOW, there _is_ something we can do. But it is a lot of small things. >Regards, >Fred Sturm >University of New Mexico >fssturm at unm.edu
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