Tuning in where it is

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 1/10/00 5:09:20 PM Pacific Standard Time, richardb@c2i.net 
(Richard Brekne) writes:

<< ... every time I do a double tuning, I leave the piano very
 playable on the first visit. And in the case where there is some kinda family
 concert and it simply has to be right on the money right then and there, I 
charge
 double, do 3 hours plus of hard work, call my next tuning and reschedule it 
...>>
 
I was replying to more than just you, Richard.  Actually I was replying to 
people who have told me some of the same things I have read on this list who 
have come and gone even before it started.  It seems to me that a lot of 
piano technicians like to talk more about what they won't do and how bad 
pianos are than what they will do and what good can be done.  Surely, there 
is a limit to everything but I find the truly untunable piano to be a very 
rare case.

 Also, a breaking plate is extremely rare.  Only one has broken under my care 
in over 30 years, that was about 20 years ago and there were obvious problems 
with it staying in tune.  I am only thankful that I was not there.  She said 
she heard a <> one night and after that, the whole top end <<sounded like 
nothing but a vacuum>>.  It was the notorious <<Grand>> brand name.  I need 
not elaborate.  I think her description of the great one above sending it to 
a black hole was at least metaphoric if not really what happened.

I insert one comment I really like, <<Prithee, how do you manage to change 
the pitch of a piano by 10-15 cents in one pass and have it sound acceptable?
Keith McGavern>>

One difference that I can see between what I always, virtually always do and 
very few others do is something I learned over 20 years ago from the late 
George Defebaugh when he taught his class in Minneapolis in 1979.  <<You 
can't raise [or change] the pitch and fine tune at the same time.>>   I 
virtually *always* tune a piano at least twice and it usually only takes me 
45-60 minutes.  If I tune it a 3rd time, it might take another 20-30 minutes. 
 It only takes so long to turn a tuning pin, when it's done, it's done.

A pitch raise is something that should be charged extra for, not just given 
away but it should also be taken in stride as a sometimes necessary thing, 
even on pianos that are tuned several times a year.  I know I have to count 
on a pitch raise or lowering almost every time I tune the community college 
theater piano I have a contract for.  I feel lucky to not have to work so 
hard if I only have to tune it twice, so I clean it or do some fine 
regulation or voicing to earn the usual fee I charge them.  That fee includes 
a pitch raise.

If a piano is so close to being in tune that I would only have to make one 
pass, I would wonder why they were having it tuned to begin with.  I can only 
come to one conclusion.  Those who are making that "I only do one pass" claim 
are really fighting with the whole thing the whole way.  If it really does 
end up being a fine and stable tuning, it also can only end up being multiple 
passes condensed only into the mind as one.  How else could it take so long?

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin