no charge to good steady customers

[Clyde Hollinger]

Conrad,

This has been a learning experience for me.  Thanks for your response.

Regards,
Clyde

Conrad Hoffsommer wrote:

> Clyde, my friend,
>
> At 07:29 10/8/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> >Phil and others,
> >I do question how you could conclude in five minutes that all the unisons,
> >3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 8vas, etc. were spot on.
>
> First, assume that you did the previous tuning and that everything was spot
> on when you left it.  ;-}
>
> Two hands, three octave span, four notes, - start with middle C as the
> bottom of the four and play triple octaves chromatically to the top. Then
> start with C52 (C5) as the top, go down to the bottom.
>
> You have played all keys on the piano and overlapped in the middle, and I
> guarantee that if _anything_ drifted out, those bare triple octaves will
> show them up.
>
> If you have some fuzziness, then go in and investigate what is causing it -
> that can take time, but that "go/no go" test is less than a minute.
>
> Checking all unisons individually? couple of minutes, longer if fuzz is
> false beats.
>
> >  Are you sure?  If so, what could cause the piano NOT to be spot on six
> > months from now?
>
> Mucho stuff, but you are there _now_.  Let tomorrow take care of itself.
>
> >If pianos are tuned regularly enough, do some of them reach the point
> >where they are permanently in tune?
>
> I tune 4 concert grands every week, and a couple of them usually need very
> little,  but permanent???  Dr Pangloss, are you listening?
>
> >  I sometimes equate piano tuning with other maintenance-type
> > procedures.  I think that any time maintenance is recommended after a
> > certain period of time, or a certain amount of use, there is the question
> > of whether this is necessary, and maybe sometimes it isn't.  Has any one
> > of you ever requested normal maintenance and then the serviceperson said
> > you didn't need it?
>
> Yes.
>
> >I use RCT, and I've long suspected that it is "pickier" than the human ear is.
>
> Soitenly! I'd never have guessed that yesterday's Samick's A4 was at
> 428.98Hz, but I knew immediately that it needed tuning.
>
> >   I've never done only an aural check on arriving and making a decision
> > at that point.  I want to *keep* the piano sounding good, not wait until
> > it starts to sound out of tune and then fix it.  I still check every
> > string, trying the unisons to see if I can get them any cleaner (often I
> > can't due to false beats), so even my short jobs take about forty minutes.
>
> Warning: College tech mentality coming through here...  If it ain't broke,
> don't fix it.  If it needs something, quickly find out exactly what, do it
> and move on.
>
> YMMV
>
> Conrad Hoffsommer, Decorah, IA
> Household Hint: A set mouse trap placed on top on of your alarm clock
>   will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep.
>
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