Well said, Todd, but unfortunately our most people don't use their piano to go to the grocery store, take the kids to school, go to work or vacation. It just sort of sits there and doesn't appear to do anything constructive until we sit down at the keyboard. Until a piano starts to have - in the mind of the client - the same utility as the family car, periodic maintenance will always take a back seat. Tom Rhea, Jr. Piano Technician Rhea Piano Service (757) 373-0284 _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Todd Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 5:14 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business Susan, I was just trying to remember the last time I took my car in for an oil change and the mechanic said it looked fine and not to bother at this time...... TODD PIANO WORKS Matthew Todd, Piano Technician (979) 248-9578 http://www.toddpianoworks.com <http://www.toddpianoworks.com/> --- On Sun, 8/22/10, Susan Kline <skline at peak.org> wrote: From: Susan Kline <skline at peak.org> Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 4:25 PM Hi, Matthew I believe in realism when helping a customer decide how much tuning is appropriate. If, as in my example, a piano has been without tuning for one or more years, and is still good enough that the customer doesn't mind it, and it then goes way out due to a weather event, then if they manage to wait a few weeks and it goes back in, not every note will be perfectly restored --- however, since the unisons weren't perfect before, either, it's up to the customer to determine if they are far enough out to warrant a tuning. It's their money, after all. Plus, it's my time, and I prefer to spend it where I can make the biggest difference, or where a high quality instrument and/or an event like a concert repays the effort. I think that when finding a note dead in tune after a year or longer, disturbing and resetting the pin is not a good idea. It demonstrably is already well set, and moving it only introduces the possibility of worsening the stability. Your mileage may vary. I think that tuning pins should be moved the minimum amount necessary to get notes in tune, starting with a tiny nudge to the downside, barely enough to hear a pitch change, to break any rust or resistance at the top bearing.. For the "self-healing tuning", a surprising number of unisons will be quite good. No doubt some will be worse than they started out. The question is whether the amount they've changed moves them out of the customer's "zone of tolerance" (which can be pretty wide, I've found) enough to justify the expense of a complete tuning. Most of this makes better sense in a very forgiving climate, like many places on the West Coast enjoy. Pianos, once stable, and if in good health and a good location, can often coast for years and years and not be all that awful. Compared to places with muggy hot summers and crackly dry winters, both owners and tuners here are spoiled rotten. Susan Kline On 8/20/2010 6:02 PM, Matthew Todd wrote: Hi Susan, When you say that a piano that goes way out of wack after a few days, will more often go back in after a few weeks, are you saying that each unison will go back into perfect tune? Whenever I come to a piano that is almost "perfect", as in your example, instead of doing a touch-up, I do a complete tuning. When I come to a string that is dead on pitch, I knock it out then tune it back, all the while resetting the pin. You are right by saying a tuning is not bound by time, however, pianos start to go out of tune the moment we leave the home. TODD PIANO WORKS Matthew Todd, Piano Technician (979) 248-9578 http://www.toddpianoworks.com <http://www.toddpianoworks.com/> --- On Thu, 8/19/10, Susan Kline <http://us.mc838.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=skline@peak.org> <skline at peak.org> wrote: From: Susan Kline <http://us.mc838.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=skline@peak.org> <skline at peak.org> Subject: Re: [pianotech] repeat business To: pianotech at ptg.org <http://us.mc838.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=pianotech@ptg.org> Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 6:13 PM > I've been amazed at how sour tunings can go with a seasonal change, and how they can magically heal themselves when things return to time of tuning conditions. Hi, Ryan Ah, yes, the self-healing tuning. That has always been a favorite idea for me. I do warn customers that if a piano which has sat in pretty good shape for a long, long time suddenly goes way out of whack in a few days, they should grit their teeth and wait about three weeks, because often it will go right back in. On the other hand, if it goes sour all at once like that, and they tune it then, give it about three weeks and it'll probably go back out again, only in the other direction. I try to spread the idea to customers that it's better to tune just after a major change of season, instead of just before it. Nonetheless, they are the ones who decide, and if in spite of being warned that the time is not ideal, they want a tuning in August ... they get a tuning in August. (Well, not THIS August, at least not by me, but maybe next August.) If I come to tune a piano and it's almost perfect already, even if it has been two or three years, I give it a touch up and the customer a price break, and I suggest waiting till it bothers them to have it done again. So many people feel that "regular maintenance" should be determined not by how the piano sounds but by how much time has elapsed. I try to convince them to use their ears instead. "I feel my life is too short to spend it tuning pianos which are already in tune." Susan Kline > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100823/fb1ca1b2/attachment-0001.htm>
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