Isn't an all Steinway school with Boston piano, actually not an all Steinway school...;-] David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Andrew and Rebeca Anderson" <anrebe at sbcglobal.net> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Received: 7/23/2006 6:47:42 AM Subject: Re: Story and Clark not tuned for 30 years!! >>I didn't dare raise it to pitch because it had been so long since it >>was tuned. I just tuned it to itself. It was the most horribly out >>of tune piano I have tuned in my short career. When I was over, it >>still sounded terrible to me, but the customer was thrilled. He said >>it was the best he ever heard it sound (he's not a piano player). I >>was honest and didn't pretend that I was happy with how it sounded. >>I told him that it would take several tunings to make it sound good. >>He's having me back in six months to give it another tuning. >Huh, why not?. I've tuned century old uprights that the owners were >absolutely certain hadn't been tuned in 70 years back up to >pitch. First pass to pitch. Second pass with over-pull to keep >pitch and third to fine tune. I did let each string down first to >break rust bonds and then pulled it up. Not a single broken string >and it was rusty. It had adequate pin tension a little on the low side. >>The pins seemed to twist before they moved, making the instrument >>very hard to tune. When I moved my tuning hammer, the pitch would go >>up, then go down when I released it. I ended up very carefully >>applying constant pressure to the tuning hammer until I felt the >>tuning pin turn a little. It worked for me, though it took a long >>time. As far as hammer technique goes, was that something you would have done? >I have brand-new Bostons here at the all Steinway School that twist a >lot of cycles before the foot budges. Makes for a difficult session >to get a stable tuning. What seems to speed things up is little >jerks on the hammer. Slowly pulling the pin up until it budges is a >recipe for broken stings. >Andrew Anderson
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