Hi Terry, I run across quite a few pianos, that had been tuned within the last 5 years, and they are down, a semi-tone. I used to wonder why. I have a couple of thoughts on it. One was, that perhaps it was a vision impaired tuner, and he was afraid of string breakage. These are for the most part older pianos. Another thought, was that he had found that if he did bring them up to pitch, they didn't stay. So he just tuned them at the pitch they were at, so they would stay for a longer time. I don't know, how the older tuners learned, maybe they were self taught, and didn't know about pitch raises. We know, that so much more information is available now, that wasn't 40 - 50 years ago. I have no proof that my thoughts on this are even close to reality. But there has to be some reason, that so many pianos are so flat. I even tuned on the other day, that belonged to a minister. The piano, had been bought new for him in the early 30's, he did not remember, it ever having been tuned. It was down, almost a full tone. Not too bad for about 70 years. Mind you, I am in a Province (State), with a total population, of under a million. It is a rural area, so keeping a piano tuned regularly, is not a priority. There is so many other places for the money to go. If I am lucky, I can get them to tune regularly, for the 3-4 years that lessons are being taken. I hear all the time, that no one plays it any more, now that the kids are gone. Just a few rambling thoughts. Regards, John M. Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia. jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca ----- Original Message ----- From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:18 PM Subject: "Old School Teachings" > What did they teach piano tuners decades ago? > > Now before I flamed too bad, I have all the respect in the world for anyone of advanced age, er, a lots of experience. But for those who have chosen to not keep up with advancements in tuning, I have a question. > > I tuned a 1970 (or so) "Kincade" spinet today. Seemed to be a lot like a "Grand" spinet. Nuff said. The piano was a full half-step flat. The folks just moved here from Texas. I asked how long had it been since the last tuning (expecting her to say about 1971), she said about a year ago and that she had it tuned every six months. I was dumbfounded. They are the original owners of the piano. > > This piano is played by two of her daughters, one has been taking lessons for four years, and the other for two years. There is no rust on the strings. There are no cracks in the plate. There is no significant defects in the plywood soundboard (unless you want to count the whole board as a defect). This piano should be tuned to A440. This woman was happy as a clam to pay for two pitch raises and a tuning and thanked my about 100 times for getting it up to pitch. The older daughter had always complained about the piano "sounding off". > > Now here is the flame Terry part. I asked her if it was an elderly gentleman that had been tuning the piano. Of course, she said "yes, how did you know?" > > My question: Why is it that many "old school" piano tuners "tune it where it lies". I can understand the old upright worries (although I find they are usually not justified), but not a 30 year old piano. I don't think human intelligence has gone up much since 50 years ago (I can think of many examples - but this is not a political list!) - I can only assume they were taught that way. Is that correct? > > Terry Farrell > > >
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