[pianotech] rock solid for how long?

[Gerald Groot]

You're right, we don't tap the pins to see if they move. That would be
silly.  Rap on anything like that hard enough and it will move.  

Not all pianos allow us the luxury to just tune them and be done with it.
Kimball Whitney's come to mind.  So do many other pianos that have tuning
pins that jump all over the place.  

The more difficult a piano is to put into tune, the more difficult it
becomes to keep that piano in tune long enough to leave.  Not to mention one
that we just finished raising pitch on 1/4 or 1/2 tone or more.  These will
change the fastest.  We just have to do the best that we can do under any
given circumstances and, do our best with what we have to work with to make
sure that the pin is set. That can be practically impossible on some
pianos....   

In Michigan, the weather and temperature are changing constantly.  From
August to December the weather is just plain screwy.  Tune a piano in August
and by October they will sound pretty crummy already.  We will go from from
69 % + RH in August to 35 % RH or less by October.  Roughly half.  This is
pretty typical here.  Then, it might warm up again the next day or cool down
again the day after that.

People open windows at the drop of a hat too (my wife does this all the
time) just for the "fresh air."  Blow that over a piano and it won't take
long to knock it out.  Right now, I am registering RH anywhere from an
average of 25 % to as low as 8.4 % RH in some places.  

The norm here is a piano that I tuned in August will be at least 1/4 tone
flat right now.  A piano that I tune now, come May will be out and creeping
steadily sharp already.  In fact, probably by March, as the weather begins
to warm and the humidity changes again, people being opening up their
windows more often and turning the heat down, the piano will be change
tuning.  

People need to be continually educated about the causes of a piano going out
of tune. I do it all the time and tire of it but continue to do so.  Most of
them forget and need to be told again.  Carrying around a brochure from the
PTG regarding humidity and handing these out to clients helps to explain a
lot to them and takes away the boredom of having to repeat it again and
again.  

Try and not feel to guilty about a piano changing tuning unless it is indeed
due to the fact that you are not setting pins correctly.  Another technician
can check this out for you if are questioning this and are willing to ask
them.  

Jer 

-----Original Message----- 
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of David Nereson 
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 2:07 AM 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] rock solid for how long? 

 > We cannot be held responsible for what happens to the piano 
itself once we 
> leave the premises.  Many factors must be taken into account 
> including 
> humidity flucuations. 
> 
> Jer 

    I think this gets to the root of what I was actually 
concerned with.  I get the attitude or expectation or impression 
from many clients than I AM responsible for that tuning holding 
for a reasonable amount of time -- at least 4 months or so, or 
even a year or two, in some people's minds.  I remember many 
call-backs in the past (and occasional ones even now) where a 
string slipped within a few days of the tuning.  The customer 
always feels that's the tuner's fault, since they think a tuning 
should last at least a year.  In fact, when they were growing 
up, their mom only tuned the piano every 5 years or so, and it 
sounded fine (they think).  So if my tuning doesn't last that 
long, I must not be very good, or else I did something wrong, or 
am getting old and can't hear, or was in a hurry or whatever. 
    But more to the point of rock-solidness, how do you know, 
other than by using the forearm test or pounding the heck out of 
each and every unison, that that tuning will stay absolutely 
stable?  Do you go thru and tap every pin with the flat end of 
your tuning hammer's head to see if any pins move, then go thru 
and touch them up?  And after you do, how do you know those 
touch-ups are stable?  You don't.  And, yes, at concerts, 
sometimes tuners come out at intermission to touch-up a few 
strings.  And this is understandable to the layperson because a 
concert artist was thrashing out a heavy piano concerto.  But 
their home piano should stay in tune for at least a year since 
it's only used by light-handed, casual players.  (Or some 
similar train of thought.) 
    I still experience some guilt if I charge full fare, then 
get a call-back because a unison or a few slip(s) within the 
next few weeks. 
    --David Nereson, RPT 



  _____  

avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. 


Virus Database (VPS): 100108-1, 01/08/2010
Tested on: 1/9/2010 12:10:44 AM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2010 ALWIL Software.