P22/gooseneck mini-puzzler w/answer

[Tom Servinsky]

Been there many times before.
Tom Servinsky,RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: <Tvak@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 11:04 PM
Subject: P22/gooseneck mini-puzzler w/answer


> Arrived at a new client's house to find a relatively new Yamaha P22.
Before
> I even touched the piano, the client told me, "This piano goes out of tune
2
> months after it's tuned.  I don't know if it's the piano, or the tuner.
> That's why I tried you, to see if it would stay in tune longer with a
> different tuner."  So I played a chromatic scale upward from middle C, and
> one octave up, at C5 the unison was WAY out.  F5, F#5 also WAY out, but
> everything else slightly out of tune to a normal degree.  So I started my
> pitch raise, (it was at 437) and when I got to C5, I was surprised to find
> that one of the strings was 35 cents sharp.  Same with F5, and F#5.   I
> pondered this throughout the tuning as to how or why this could happen.
> Flat, I could understand, but sharp?
>
> Anyway, I gave her my bill, took her check, and as always, I said, "I'll
put
> a card in the bench.  If you need to find me, you'll know where to look."
> And when I opened the bench, I had to laugh inwardly, at least.  I knew
how
> those unisons came to be so out of tune:  in the bench was a gooseneck
tuning
> lever.  Now, I don't suspect she tuned the whole piano for the overall
> tuning, though degraded through time,  was far too good.  I think a unison
or
> two, perhaps at C5, F5, or F#5 went slightly out and she tried to fix'em.
>
> Another interesting day, and another puzzler solved.
>
> Tom Sivak
>