[CAUT] What a joke!!

[Chris Solliday]

cool idea
cs
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Stickney" <stickneyjp at gmail.com>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] What a joke!!


> At the recent California convention, Darrell Fandrich suggested the 
> possibility of putting a space blanket over the strings - possibly 
> holding it in place with magnets?  He did an experiment putting a space 
> blanket over the strings and blowing a hair dryer on it - no affect on 
> the unisons.  Pulled the blanket away and they started go almost 
> immediately.  This would help if the problem is temperature - as in 
> direct sunlight.  If humidity is on the rise, I'm not sure that would do 
> much for the situation.  At least it would help in some of those outdoor 
> situations.
> 
> Jeff Stickney, RPT
> 
> Chris Solliday wrote:
> > I empathize Paul. You were truely in an untenable situation. And it 
> > looks like it will keep happening. This jogged my memory of an 
> > incident that occurred when I was just beginning at our craft, and 
> > when I was willing to try almost anything, no matter how stupid it 
> > looked or might seem, to get the job done.
> > I was on stand-by for an outdoor jazz festival (and I do not blame 
> > jazz for these kinds of situations) in my neighborhood, so my friends 
> > and family were all there. The piano being used was an old and 
> > partially rotten Steinway B (at least it had good parents) which had 
> > been in an abandoned building for decades molding away in the damp 
> > Pocono summers with little heat in the winter. The strings were 
> > totally rusted, the cabinet veneer was powdery to the touch and the 
> > action was seizing. Suffice to say that preparation was long and 
> > arduous, but I was able to get the thing working and in reasonable 
> > tune at 440. Then the next day, we moved it outside and on stage. As 
> > the morning began everyone revelled in the fact that providence had 
> > provided a glorious day of sunshine and warmth, although the threat of 
> > rain persisted remaining in the background and the humdity was 
> > changing. By 11:00am the piano had begun to change and I could no 
> > longer say 440 would be there, by 11:30 the tenor section was on the 
> > rise and no longer reliable. Unisions were moving, etc.
> >  I consulted with a friend who plays the saxophone and is usually 
> > pretty level headed despite repeatedly blowing into that tube. He was 
> > also on the Board of Directors and could make decisions for the 
> > festival. I told him how unstable that I thought the piano would be 
> > for the next two days of music, 10 acts a day, almost all of them 
> > using the piano. He asked if I could think of anyway to improve 
> > things, and all I could say was that if we could cool the piano down 
> > and stabilize its environment we could improve our situation. So 
> > he asked if could we put buckets of dry ice (which the 
> > concessionaires were using for storage) under the piano and tent the 
> > bottom would that work. I admitted I didn't have such experience but 
> > that it sounded good to me. Attaching melting popsicles to the ribs 
> > would have been fine with me at that point. So we arranged it with 
> > buckets and blankets, even found some almost the color of decaying 
> > traditional satin walnut.
> > The festival began at about noon and by my first touch up at 1:00 I 
> > could notice an improvment and I was able to help the unisions and the 
> > tenor section. I can't say it was a total success but it was an 
> > improvement and everyone who helped with the project, including most 
> > of the stage crew and the directors, gained a little piece of 
> > ownership that brought us closer together. Since then the festival has 
> > grown over the years and they rent a Hamburg Steinway from Pro Piano 
> > and it arrives the day prior to the event and is completely tented on 
> > stage overnight (come rain or shine and the creeks do rise around 
> > here) and tuned midmorning and touched up between acts each day. The 
> > pitch is allowed to drift although the bass usually is the final 
> > arbitor. And that is satisfactory, but still the climate is always 
> > reaching out to through its own blanket on it all. Things are better 
> > and shall I say workable.
> > Your post, and recalling that festival, made me wonder what would 
> > happen if the piano had a Piano Life Saver System installed. I've 
> > never run into one outdoors. Anyone have any experience to share?
> > Your brother in frustration,
> > Chris Solliday
> > Registered Piano Technician
> >
> >     ----- Original Message -----
> >     *From:* Paul T Williams <mailto:pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu>
> >     *To:* caut at ptg.org <mailto:caut at ptg.org>
> >     *Sent:* Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:09 PM
> >     *Subject:* [CAUT] What a joke!!
> >
> >
> >     Hi All,
> >
> >     UNL sponsers this Jazz in June thing every Tuesday,(in june of
> >     course).  The rental piano arrives at 4:30 right?  It came from
> >     it's cozy little inside the piano store place into 89 degrees with
> >     75% humidity in direct sunlight.  I have exactly 35 minutes to
> >     tune it.  I have now decided that this is impossible task!!  Even
> >     brushing up unisons was a joke.  By the time I got an octave
> >     higher, those below were out.  The bass, especially around the
> >     break went out AS I was trying to bring in a unison on this
> >     usually nice Yamaha C-3 which I've tuned many other times in a
> >     controlled enviornment.  
> >
> >     I just tried to look "busy" for the time and then said "call it a
> >     day" you get what you get, (to myself of course!)  At least my
> >     budget gets $80 and my tan in a bit improved!!
> >
> >     These types of events should just use an electronic keyboard!
> >      What a joke!!
> >
> >     Paul
> >