A string breaking on a large grand comes about as close as I can think of when anticipating the worst. Such a bang, and sometimes they fly out of the piano and cause damage elsewhere. I always caution people to not stand in the line of fire while tuning. A recent potentially catastrophic event for me was when I was putting the finishing touches on a just rebuilt, beautifully refinished grand in a fancy house. The owner had put the lid up on the stick anticipating my arrival and later on when I was dusting off the tail of the rim, the lid, lacking a front hinge pin, suddenly gave way and I could only watch the whole business crash down. I was already late for my next appointment and only had time to call the owner who had left. Fortunately he was very nice about it and saw that I couldn't be responsible for the damage which turned out to be very slight. Normally I test the lid when raising it by moving it side to side which would have revealed the lack of a pin, but obviously the owner would not have known that trick. Tom Cole Greg Livingston wrote: > Dear Friends, > > I have often wondered about this. What terrible disasters can happen > during a tuning? Today I pitch-raised a neglected Baldwin studio, and > it creaked and groaned for the two hours it took me to wrestle it into > stability. I was expecting unforseen disasters at every turn of the > hammer. > > Have you ever had bridge pins snap or bridges crack, or (God forbid) a > tuning pin snap off? What is the worst that has happened to you, and > do you carry insurance to protect you? > > Once, at one of my first chapter meetings after I joined the PTG, a > well-respected local tuner told me to crank all pianos up to 440 no > matter how flat they are. Well, I do that to pianos of recent > manufacture with unrusted strings, but for WW1 era sleds I drag them > up gradually over several tunings. (It gives me a chance to use my 435 > fork.) I guess it all depends on the situation. > > ___________________________________________________ > Gregory P. Livingston, Piano Tuning and Service 781-237-9178 > Piano Technicians Guild, associate member (Boston chapter) > > "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, > or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." We are constantly > reminded of the first part, but somehow the second part gets overlooked. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from > your inbox. See how. > <http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_2>
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