Tuning a Kawai Grand RX-2

[Jonathan Best]

I echo Kendal... I used to tune for recording studios regularly and it  
was de-facto standard to finish tuning just when the session was  
starting and sometimes to stay during the session for touch ups.  This  
I would do for concerts as well.  When customers ask me how often to  
tune their piano I tell them every six months minimum, not so it will  
be in tune, just so it won't be ridiculously out.  You can even  
stretch that to a year if you're hurtin for cash but more than that  
you might as well get a digital.  On the other extreme, like a bridge  
painter, I'll start at the beginning when i get at the end if you want  
me to.

Jonathan Best
jb at bubblemusic.com
928-830-4887
www.bubblemusic.com




On Jul 15, 2008, at 5:17 AM, Kendall Ross Bean wrote:

> 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)
>
>