fun at the piano store!

[Ron & Lorene Shiflet]

Welcome to the world of new pianos.  Very few pianos hold when they are new
(except Charles Walters).  The problem isn't you it's the fact that a new
piano needs about 4+ tunings after the crate to start holding. Also,
remember that the climate from, the warehouse to the freight truck to the
showroom has expanded and contracted the wood on the soundboard over and
over again in addition to the new strings still stretching in.  That my
friend, is the real problem.


Ron Shiflet




----- Original Message -----
From: Charly Tuner <charly_tuner@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 10:39 AM
Subject: fun at the piano store!


> Hi all,
>
> Well, I just finished logging my FIRST month as a floor tuner! All's going
> great with 65+ pianos tuned in that time. I've been averaging about 15+
> pianos per week , 4 days per week. About 1/3 include a pitch raise. In
this
> time I have also been asked to regulate and/or make minor repairs in some
of
> our older trade-in stock, as well as some our new "less than top of the
line
> models" which has been a real education!
> About a week ago, I tuned a new Yamaha C5, and after I was finished, I
> played it for a while and made sure it was stable, and sought out any
stray
> unisons and so on. i left that piano in solid tune. I reported for work,
as
> usual this past Monday, only to be asked by the General Manager: "Are you
> making sure that you 'set the pins' when you're tuning?" Now I thought
this
> was a silly question, tantamount to asking a limo driver if he "remembers
to
> disengage the emergency brake before he starts driving" but I said that I
> did, indeed. He then informed me that the SAME C5 (which I had tuned), was
> now sounding "terrible", so he had the other tuner (who is much more
> experienced than I, "re-tune" it. I thought to myself.."oh boy, this does
> NOT make me look good." But I COULD NOT understand how a piano could "go
> out" so fast! Yes, there is NO climate/humidity control of ANY kind, but
> still the piano should not have gone out so fast. So...YESTERDAY I walked
> into the (cold) studio where it is on display and decided to play each
note
> on the piano; chromatically from A0 to C8..GUESS WHAT??? almost EVERY
UNISON
> WAS O U T !!!!!!!!!!!! AGAIN! I immediately brought this to the attention
of
> the manager, hoping this would prove that my tuning was/is NOT suspect
> afterall! He was a bit surprised, but it was clear that, for whatever
reason
> that piano went out of tune only days after EACH of us had tuned it, the
> culprit was not bad tuning, but either the piano itself not holding, or
more
> likely because of wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity.
>
> Terry
>
>
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