----- Original Message ----- From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 4:18 PM Subject: "Old School Teachings" > What did they teach piano tuners decades ago? > > Now before I flamed too bad, [you mean, "Before you GET flamed to badLY] I have all the respect in the world for anyone of advanced age, er, a [uh], 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" [nope, Kincaid] spinet today. Seemed to be a lot like a "Grand" spinet. [That's because Kincaid was made by the Grand Co. Kincaid was the vice president.] Nuff said. [Right. They are quite inferior instruments, but they can be made to serve a beginner or intermediate student for a while.] 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), [semicolon or period and new sentence] 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, [same here; either semicolon or period and new sentence] 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 [there ARE no significant defects] in the plywood soundboard (unless you want to count the whole board as a defect). [I'm not rooting for Kincaid; they are terrible pianos. But there are other brands with laminated ("plywood") boards that are decent, for what they are.] 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 [thanked ME] about 100 times for getting it up to pitch. The older daughter had always complained about the piano "sounding off". [No, she complained about the piano sounding "off". 'The piano "sounding off"' makes it sound like the piano periodically exclaimed something, like "Yeah, I'm here." or "Just leave me flat, dang it!"]. > > 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 > No, I don't think they were taught that way. I also don't think age has anything to do with it. As others have replied, I think the main factor was laziness or just thinking pitch wasn't that important an issue on a low-end piano used by non-professionals. --David Nereson, RPT, Denver
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