Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad

[cswearingen@daigger.com]

When I first started learning to tune pianos, I was fortunate enough to
practice on a brand new Yamaha U1.  The first tuning I did for money was a
Winter spinet and I was shocked.  I kept checking my tuning over and over
and couldn't figure out why the piano sounded so awful.  It was my first
lesson in how a piano can be in pitch and in poor tone at the same time.

It's somewhat ironic that most of the pianos a brand new tuner will see are
small spinets are aren't that well taken care of.  I find these spinets
difficult to tune by ear (I use a Verituner) since, in a lot of cases, the
beats are difficult to hear and the false beats in the high treble just add
to the confusion (and forget about the low bass).  A nice piano that is
well taken care of is such a pleasure to tune.

I think I spend way too much time trying to get these little spinets to
sound good but I'm never satisfied.  I always leave wishing I could have
done better. I never feel this way after tuning larger well-mantained
instruments.

Corte Swearingen
Chicago


                                                                                                           
                      "Farrell"                                                                            
                      <mfarrel2@tampaba        To:       "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>                   
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                      pianotech-bounces                                                                    
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                      09/05/2003 04:50                                                                     
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No, I have not run across a good Winter spinet - but if I owned a Humvee or
a semi tractor, I would keep my eye open for one! I imagine the sound might
rival that of one landing in a Wally-World parking lot after being launched
from a trebuchet!

The "bad" is a noun here, and the "Winter" is the adjective.

I've seemingly had some luck as of late with a method of communicating that
their little old spinet may make for a poorly performing piano. I use this
when there are children taking lessons and practicing on the spinet. I tell
mom/dad that when the child gets to a second or third year level that the
teacher is usually instructing them on how to control the piano action for
soft and loud play. Most spinets (and consoles) will put limitations on
their progress. At some point the child will come home from a lesson and
say that "I can play it on the teacher's piano, but I can't do it on our
piano." That seems to sometimes get the point across.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan" <tune4u@earthlink.net>
To: "'Pianotech'" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 9:42 PM
Subject: RE: Some Days are Grand, Some are Bad


> Terry said: "a bad Winter spinet"
>
> I say: There's a good Winter spinet?
>
> Terry said: "...three of these were in gated VERY affluent communities.
> BIG $$ homes  ..."
>
> I say: I'd like to have the courage to flat-out tell people like that
> that their piano is Crap on Casters.
>
> Wonder why we are so timid about such a thing. Now if they've already
> said it's an heirloom or it's obviously all they can afford, then fine,
> okay, that's one thing, But it sure seems like SOMEONE should clue in
> these other folks before little Suzie gives up OR, worse, they start
> playing Dialing-for-Tuners with the assumption that my work is bad--and
> tell their friends that my work is bad, or at least don't give me
> referrals!
>
> Rant, rant, pant, pant ...
>
> Alan R. Barnard
> Salem, MO
>
>
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