We are SO LUCKY to be piano technicians! We enjoy a life style that few other professions can have, and we have fascinating work to do. We're almost always in research mode. My colleague in hearing, Hans Troost in the Netherlands, thinks we must use soft blows to protect our hearing. I have done sound level readings on a tech I work with in the store. Terry is THE LOUDEST tuner I have ever heard. He has tuned four-five pianos every weekday for the last 30 years. He is legally blind. He has great hearing. He does not use protection. In fact, he helped me with a hearing aid experiment, and just LOVED it when the piano was still louder! By every standard, he should be having hearing problems by now. (There is some research that suggests that when a person does not need brain activity for one thing (he can't see), it's assigned to another (hearing) and the brain is the primary organ of hearing.) However, I still protect my hearing. I have seen first hand the sadness that comes with hearing loss..... Most of us were taught to tune with a "firm blow". I remember Jim Coleman, Sr. telling me to use three fingers held together tightly to be able to hit the key harder. My father, my husband and I all worked at a Christian Conference center. We all tuned with firm blows. We found that stability was largely dependent on the same person tuning time after time. If my dad tuned several times in a row, the pianos got real stable--provided he tuned. If my husband was the tuner multiple times, it was stable for him, etc. Whenever we changed tuners, it was less stable for the first time or two. Diane Hofstetter for those on the fence about hearing protection.. Michael Magness IFixPianos at yahoo.com said: I agree with you completly Phil, there is no such thing as "pounding too hard" unless you are breaking keys regularly! I frequently follow the light touch techs and tooners in this area and find the piano settling more under my touch/pounding but when I finish my tunings stay put! I have had the comment more than once that I was the loudest tech they've ever had, which I take as a complement, I then explain to them why. Oh and yes I use hearing protection also! Mike -- The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. - Bertrand Russell Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg Diane Hofstetter
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