Tuning a Kawai Grand RX-2

[Kendall Ross Bean]

Al~

Allow me to offer my two cents on this (Since that's probably about how much
the capo bar sections are going out of tune!)  ;-).

I agree with Terry Farrell: I think you are expecting too much from a
tuning. Sounds like you are doing a great job if you ony have to go back and
do touch up every month.

Let's examine the facts. Customer is recording a CD, probably playing the
piano a lot.

You're having to touch it up (only) every month...

The truth of the matter is, when professional concert artists do recording,
they usually keep a technician on hand through the entire session, to touch
up the unisons during the session. That means unisons often go out within
the hour, depending on how dynamic and intense the repetoire being played.

The treble sections usually seem to go out more quickly, because the shorter
strings only have to be displaced a tiny amount to have a pronounced and
perceivable effect, whereas longer strings may move the same distance and
not be noticeable. Mostly it is the capo bar strings (the short ones), in my
experience, that must be touched up in a recording session, or during
intermission at concerts.

There were a lot of good suggestions (in this thread) offered by others as
to things that would enhance stability (but not necessarily guarantee it). A
damppchaser can provide a more stable micro-climate; but usually in
recording or performing, the grand lid is up, and the performer is helping
create air currents, (by both moving and breathing, and body heat). So the
damppchaser can only do so much.

I was once playing a concert in a relatively small hall and the audience,
being a large number of people, was seated physically close to the Steinway
D I was performing on. (They were almost on top of me!) There were also some
high wattage incandescent lights illuminating the piano. As a result it got
very warm in the hall. Halfway through the performance I literally perceived
the piano going significantly flat from the heat. It was unmistakeable. -It
was actually going out of tune.

Performer, audience and illumination heat is a factor, as well as all the
other things that have been mentioned.

I tune a KG3 Kawai for a violin and piano teacher. Playing the violin
(single strings), she is much more sensitive to unisons going out on the
piano. Inevitably, these will be noticed in the top two treble sections
under the capo bar. I am regarded by my clients as a pretty stable tuner.
They have told me about using other tuners (because they charged less) and
then deciding to come back to me because the other tuner's tunings didn't
last as long. I tuned the violin teacher's piano in January of this year.
Approximately four months later, in May, she told me the capo bar unisons
were going out again. For the type of usage this particular piano is
getting, I think that is pretty good. She may have to have the piano tuned
three or four times a year. -Others, maybe even every month, as you can see
(-or as often as needed).

Be careful about telling customers that a tuning should last 6 months to a
year. For some customers, slightly out of tune unisons will not be noticed.
For others, they will. Fussy musicians may need touch-up or complete tunings
far more often.

Andrew Anderson also made some excellent points about hardly moving the pin
at all. I have noticed that does seem to help stability, a lot, for one,
because you are introducing less twist in the pin and less inequality among
the string segments. (If you have the technique to do it!) A tuner sent
along with the Steinway D from a professional piano rental company once
echoed the same sentiment to me: Move only the pins you need to, and those
as little as possible.

The only sure fire way to achieve 100% tuning stability is to get a digital
piano! (Their tuning is crystal controlled, like on the SAT.)

(OMIGOSH, did I really say that? I guess I did...sorry...)

~Hope this helps.

Kendall Ross Bean,

PianoFinders
www.pianofinders.com
e-mail: kenbean at pianofinders.com
 
Connecting Pianos and People


  

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bondi [mailto:phil at philbondi.com] 
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 5:17 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Tuning a Kawai Grand RX-2



Joe And Penny Goss wrote:
> Hi, Aren't the strings after 9 years as stretched as they will ever be? 

Yes Joe - they should be.

 From the original description we didn't have the age..only the symptoms.

-Phil Bondi(Fl)