A Case Study

[robert goodale]

Print out the responses from others of this post and kindly submit them to
him with our pleasure.

Rob Goodale, RPT
Las Vegas, NV



Richard Brekne wrote:

> I was on my way home late afternoon when my mobil (cellular) rang. A

> local sound studio was to have a recording with one of the national TV
> stations later that evening and needed the piano tuned.

<snip>


> Indeed this was the case last week, a 25 year old 110 Røsler (Czech,
> petrof variant). Beat to sh--, horrible bass, unbelievable wear on the
> Hammers.. etc. etc. ad absurdum. Now this sound studio has Mercedes
> solutions when it comes to almost everything, except the piano, and I
> have been on about this with them for over a year now, trying patiently
> to inform them that it was very bad tactics to keep using wrecks for
> pianos.

<snip>


> As I said... the bass on this piano was horrible... several bad string
> pars.. and in particular C2 which was so far out of wack that no matter
> what you did it sounded both horribly flat and horribly sharp at the
> same time. Lets put it this way... if you tuned C2-C3 as a 2:1 ,, the
> 4:2 was beating at around 6 bps. I kid you not. Lets not even think
> about the higher coincidents yet.

<snip>


> Two hours later this fellow has the gaul to call me (now nearly 8PM) and
> says the piano is out of tune in the bass and wants me to come back (for
> free cuz it was obviously my fault) to fix it.

<snip>


> A bit of background before you comment... I am one of 5 different tuners
> this guy has done basically the same with. I have talked with the others
> and they are of same mind, that they are sick and tired of this fellow,
> and wont have anything more to do with him. All have said to him for
> some time now, that he needs a decent piano for his kinda work and he
> always shines us on about it. And all of us have heard comments from him
> about the "poor quality of piano technicians" here in western Norway.
> Also one last thing.. this is the only complaint I personally have had
> in the last 5 years.
>
> So you tell me.... time to draw the line or what ??

Richard Brekne wrote:

> Yesterday I had an experience I just had to share with you all. We've
> been on about this buisness of when to say no several times lately and
> this relates to that.
>
> I was on my way home late afternoon when my mobil (cellular) rang. A
> local sound studio was to have a recording with one of the national TV
> stations later that evening and needed the piano tuned.
>
> Just a week earlier I had been in there with some players from the
> Conservatory and a visiting ragtime pianist from England. A nice brand
> new Yamaha U1 had been rented for the occasion and I tuned it for the
> session. I had suggested earlier on to the fellow responsible for
> arranging the session that he rent at least this much quality as I knew
> this particular studio had no piano of their own and usually had on loan
> some beater.
>
> Indeed this was the case last week, a 25 year old 110 Røsler (Czech,
> petrof variant). Beat to sh--, horrible bass, unbelievable wear on the
> Hammers.. etc. etc. ad absurdum. Now this sound studio has Mercedes
> solutions when it comes to almost everything, except the piano, and I
> have been on about this with them for over a year now, trying patiently
> to inform them that it was very bad tactics to keep using wrecks for
> pianos.
>
> Anyways, so I go in yesterday for this "very important" recording
> session, and sure enough they are going to use this Røsler. I just shook
> my head, tried once again to tell the guy how idiotic this was, but
> proceeded to tune the piano as best as was possible. I must say I did
> quite a fine job of it as well... as far as was possible in anycase.
>
> As I said... the bass on this piano was horrible... several bad string
> pars.. and in particular C2 which was so far out of wack that no matter
> what you did it sounded both horribly flat and horribly sharp at the
> same time. Lets put it this way... if you tuned C2-C3 as a 2:1 ,, the
> 4:2 was beating at around 6 bps. I kid you not. Lets not even think
> about the higher coincidents yet.  Tuning as a 4:2  was appropriate for
> keeping 3rds and 10ths in line with neighbors, but yeilded the most
> ridiculous blending of sounding both sharp and flat at the same time.
> Tuning to a higher coincedent just sounded awfully awfully flat.. and
> ruined the progression of 3rds and 10ths... Nothing to do... I ended up
> with something between a 4:2 and a 2:1 so that my 3rds and 10ths were
> acceptable, and the octave sounded least bad otherwise.
>
> After nearly two hours of trying to make this thing sound at least
> something like a piano, I finally called it a nite and after one more
> round of this time a bit more firm admonishing about the shamefullness
> of putting this thing in front of serious musicians, I went home.
>
> Two hours later this fellow has the gaul to call me (now nearly 8PM) and
> says the piano is out of tune in the bass and wants me to come back (for
> free cuz it was obviously my fault) to fix it. He went on to inform me
> that he noticed it right away after I had left and wanted to know if I
> thought the piano was in tune when I left. I replied with...
>
> "wait a second... you say you noticed this 2 hours ago, on the evening
> of a recording session, and you wait til now to call me ????? ".  I also
> informed him in no so uncertain terms that the piano was well tuned for
> what it was, and that it was high time he realized that as long as he
> insisted on using such garbage he should expect less then satisfactory
> sound, and that he needed to wake up and buy himself a decent instrument
> appropriate to his needs and stop calling piano techs at nite with
> accusations and tales of catastrophy.  In short... I simply refused to
> go back.
>
> A bit of background before you comment... I am one of 5 different tuners
> this guy has done basically the same with. I have talked with the others
> and they are of same mind, that they are sick and tired of this fellow,
> and wont have anything more to do with him. All have said to him for
> some time now, that he needs a decent piano for his kinda work and he
> always shines us on about it. And all of us have heard comments from him
> about the "poor quality of piano technicians" here in western Norway.
> Also one last thing.. this is the only complaint I personally have had
> in the last 5 years.
>
> So you tell me.... time to draw the line or what ??
>
> --
> Richard Brekne
> Associate PTG, N.P.T.F.
> Bergen, Norway