Jeff: You wrote: > I too can be 'hooked' by a quality instrument. Last week I had a tuning >for a concert... and the Events Center had just taken delivery of a new > 7-ft >piano. Wheeee! After the tuning the piano required about 90 minutes of >'testing'... just to make sure it was in tune. Know what I mean??? > Yes, I do know what you mean. I am waiting for the first person to say, "Whoa, you're going to knock that piano out of tune." An added advantage to playing (play both pieces and a chord sequence that covers every note on the piano and most several times). The added benefit is that things will show up in playing that do not show up while I am tuning. 1. A non-player will have to remember to check a list of things such as whether the damper pedal works. I've had service calls to correct a damper trap dowel out of place after a store technician had removed a console action for a repair. He obviously didn't check by playing the piano afterward. Playing the piano is like an automatic checklist. 2. The momentum with which I strike keys in tuning will often mask sluggishness problems that the customer has also not been aware of. The softer touch of playing makes tendency to stick more obvious. 3. I have often caught blocking let-offs in playing the piano that were right on the borderline, not causing any problem on a tuning blow, but hanging up just enough to either block or cause a "ting" on a soft blow. I am surprised this thread hung on so long; I have just gotten back from the North Carolina PTG conference and am trying to catch up on email. One of the instructors mentioned this thread in a regulating class. Bill Maxim, RPT Serving South Carolina from Greer and Columbia Satisfying discriminating musicians since 1955
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