Got a call from a client and the University of South Florida to tune a small Kawai grand in the theatre for a concert being given by the Florida Orchestra (the BIG local orchestra - Jahja Ling is music director). I had tuned the piano previously. OK piano. I was looking forward to this as I had never tuned a piano for the big local orchestra! Wow! Cool! Got there at 8 AM today. Where is the little Kawai? "Someone at the music school took the Kawai and gave us this Steinway!" "Pretty good deal....yes?" 1960s L. Teflon action. Clickity clank. Massive deader-than-a-doornail killer octave section. Bass strings WAY tubbier that the WORST old upright I have ever heard (I checked the bass bridge to see if it was attached - it seemed to be) - they were honestly WAY worse than absolutely horrible. Action regulation horrible. Half the hammers not checking and bobbling. Rep springs way tight. Hammers with 17mm long flat tops (that's like a good (or bad) 3/4-inch long). Most hammers only hitting left two strings. And this thing is the centerpiece for the orchestra! I only had a couple hours before they were going to use it for rehearsal. Thank God I had super glue and duct tape! I pitch-raised it to A440, tuned it, filed the hammers, shimmed the action frame for hammer alignment, roughed up the hammer tails to make most of them check. Added a little drop to some just so they would not double strike. That was all I had time for. This thing needed a good 200 hours of work - at least. And then I RAN out of there before anyone with the orchestra saw me. I didn't want anyone to know that I had anything to do with that piano. What a fiasco. I suggested to the dude to get his little Kawai back or get ready to spend some bucks on the sad L. That was my morning. Major old uprightitis in the afternoon. Terry Farrell
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