The "NeverTune Piano"

[Allan L. Gilreath, RPT]

Roger,

No, actually you're describing part of the idea of Total Piano Maintenance.
This is certainly not my original idea but one that has been presented
several times.  It's a matter of prioritizing the needs of the piano and the
customer.  Having said that and still with every intent of giving the
customer their money's worth, there's another point that comes to mind.  One
of my apprentices asked me the other day what you do when you come across a
note that's "perfectly in tune."  Do you retune it or leave it?  Nd Maybe
it's my own hubris, but I had to tell him that I didn't know.  I've never
found one that couldn't be improved a little.  Another thought, while I
always try to move a string and pin as little as possible, our climate (with
such high humidity for the majority of the year) can easily cause a spot of
oxidation at the bearing points.  If that's the case, moving the string and
pin slightly every time would help break that bond to my way of thinking.

I wonder if anyone has done research on the long-term effects of the tuning
or lack thereof in the early life of a piano.  I remember Kent Webb writing
some comments on that in a Baldwin vehicle several years ago.  Does anyone
out there remember ever seeing any studies?  It's a darn good question.


Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Assistant Institute Director
PTG Annual Convention
Arlington, VA July 5-9, 2000
Agilreath@mindspring.com
706 629-3063
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
Roger Jolly
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 10:50 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: The "NeverTune Piano"

Hi Clyde,
              Some times you would be giving the customer better service,
to touch up the tuning, and then spend the balance of the time doing some
technical work to improve the playability, and tone of the instument.
Clean up lost motion or reset a hammer line for example.
As long as you are not just doing a touch up to make a fast buck. And not
doing this as a general practice for a quick job.
Now I can put on a flame suit and duck.
 Regards Roger



At 07:07 AM 25/08/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Friends,
>
>When I come across this situation (and they're not all Gulbransens) I
>assume there was a period of time in the piano's history during which it
>received at least annual tunings for 5-10 years.
>
>I have this question.  If I find a piano remarkably close to pitch which
>hasn't been tuned for ten years, do I touch up the tuning and then say
>"see you again in _another_ ten years"?  More frequent tuning doesn't
>seem to make sense to the owner in some of these situations, but I can't
>make myself recommend they leave it go that long, even if it is rarely
>used.
>
>Clyde Hollinger
>
>Glenn wrote:
>>
>> Hi Y'all.
>>
>> In my limited experience I've run across 3 pianos that the owners
>> SWEAR have not been tuned for a large number of years.  In all three
>> cases they claim double digits (at least 10 years since last tuning).
>>
>> In all three cases, with this particular brand only, the pianos did
>> not require a pitch raise!  Before going to each job, I gave the
>> owners the pitch raise "schpeel" only to check to find the pianos
>> either 4 cents low or even high!  Of course they sounded terrible but
>> the overall pitch averaged out and they needed only one pass.  What
>> brand was this?  Gulbrasen.  Two consoles and a spinet.
>
Roger Jolly
Baldwin Yamaha Piano Centre
Saskatoon and Regina
Saskatchewan, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505