[pianotech] Wiping Rusty Strings W/Oil

[Roger Gable]

Et all,
Whenever I pitch raise (defined as 3 cents or more?), I put myself into "high gear" and raise the pitch to standard as quickly as possible, no matter where I'm starting from. In extreme cases I perform 2 quick tunings rather than 1 pass. By raising the pitch quickly, you close the gap between the first and last string tuned, thus decreasing the amount of unison drift; and we all know that the unisons are the first line of defense. No matter what method you incorporate to raise pitch, the piano will justify a follow-up in a couple of weeks or so. Some customers may notice a drift in the tuning after a few days; others will not. Those that don't, probably won't pay for a follow-up, but cover your bases and explain the consequences to the customer.
Roger Gable
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Driscoll 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:18 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] Wiping Rusty Strings W/Oil






    Tom,

    I find Protek to be useful in certain circumstances but IMHO it's use frequently far outweighs any necessity for it. Judgment should be used rather than Protek.

    Why ? Protek can do nothing but help with string rendering and it's quite innocuous. Is the implication that frequent use demonstrates poor judgement ?


    I'm glad you have been that lucky pulling strings to pitch that quickly, I wasn't taught that way & it has stood me in good stead for over 41 years.
    When you figure up the difference for time saved yanking pianos to pitch & the strings broken don't forget the callbacks to touchup those new strings. 

    Luck is not a factor. This statement assumes that string breakage is more likely with a quick pull up to pitch--Not so in my opinion. 

    My Cybertuner anticipates pitch drop but even so the piano(an old upright nearly 100 years old) did drop over 30c. My method has always been to tune pianos to pitch over a period of time, not attempt to return them to A440 in one sitting, after they have been allowed over a 5, 10 or 20 year period to go 1/2 tone or more flat.
    Attempting to fine tune a piano that was 1/2 tone flat in one sitting is & always will be folly IMHO.

    Now that is a statement flies in the face of well established techniques taught by two  of the most respected tuners in the field.Jim Coleman Sr and the late George Defebaugh  among others . Folly?


    It may sound on pitch when you leave but trust me, 3 to 6 weeks later it won't resemble a piano that was tuned.

    Correct there, but no different than what you describe below .   You wrote :      " I still do 1/2 tone pitch raises in 2 sittings seperated by a 2-3 week period"

    I have spent 41 years tuning both aurally & the last 2+ using a Cybertuner, I still do 1/2 tone pitch raises in 2 sittings seperated by a 2-3 week period. I get a much more satisfactory result than attempting to undo the neglect of the customer in an hour or hour & a half.



    I also acquire several customers a year from other tuners & techs who have done the "one sitting" method.

    Ok , the customer calls you and tells you that tuner X has been fired because he or she performed a pitch raise and tune in one sitting ? Really?
    In my practice I charge 1/2 my basic tuning fee for the PR followed by a tuning at the basic fee. I also inform them that this procedure is less stable than the next tuning will be and we schedule retuning dependant on the pianists needs and the season. Today for example 60 cents flat on a small vertical with a beginning player.  We were at 58% relative humidity  and I recommended a December tuning when the RH may be 25%-30%. Last week the needs were different and after a similar PR we scheduled a tuning for an event in Mid- October.

    When I started in this business I was taught to do pitch raises as I do them now, others have attempted to sway me to the single sitting method. 

     Clearly you wouldn't consider changing technique . We can agree to disagree here, but despite my scepticism of your premise I would never refer  to what in my opinion is your outdated method as folly. 



    I note that as a rebuilder & when I tune new pianos, I tune them more often due to the new strings stretching, bending into place, etc. A piano that hasn't been tuned for several years has the same problems & should be treated somewhat the same. It has developed bends in the wire where they shouldn't be, some of those bends will move into the speaking length & will straighten out, not in an hour but over a few weeks. During that same few weeks the new bends will tighten around the bends & then the piano is ready for a fine tune, again IMHO.

    You think that strings stretch ? Another point where we have different views.

    Mike

    -- 
      
    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
        
        Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

    Paraphrasing your pithy quote:    "It is the mark of an educated man to truly entertain a new thought once in a while"
      Thomas Henry Driscoll lll  (1953 AD -  Sooner rather than later)



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