Hi, David, Hmmm...as long as you and I have been at this, and as hard as we've worked, we'll be lucky to live to be 90...let alone still be "tuning" then. Best. Horace At 07:00 PM 2/12/2011, you wrote: >Wow---I maintained that piano, I believe, for three or four years >sometime in the last decade (2003-2007?) Then they changed the >management regime, lost the high-end paradigm, consistently banged >on me to lower my price and "besides, why do you have to mess with >the piano so much?" > >Thus, the el cheapo "elderly famous studio tuner," who is literally >90 years old and refuses to give up, providing very good tunings >ONLY---nothing else, EVER---for about half of what I charge. The >only reason that Bosie isn't as torn up as the other studio pianos >the "senior tuner" "maintains" is because the studio is kind of >out-of-the-way and has a reputation as an expensive and boutique >place---the piano gets softer, less frequent use. > >That's a great piano; one of the best 225s I ever put my hands >on...I'm glad you got a chance to give it some love, Alan.... >DA > > > >On Feb 12, 2011, at 11:22 AM, Alan Eder wrote: > >>And now back to octaves and unisons (although I have nothing >>against unions, especially the good kind!). >> >>I was asked to tune for a recording session in a very high end >>studio here in the Los Angeles area. Bosendorfer 225, nice >>piano. The pianist featured in the recording selected the studio >>for its general state-of-the-art-edness, and particularly for the >>high-end (treble) of the piano. The piece she was recording, with >>string quartet, was quite subtle--slow, quiet, much space between >>the attacks of notes. She hired this studio on the condition that >>she could bring in her own audio engineer and piano technician. >> >>I established in advance what the pitch should be, in conjunction >>with the manager of the studio (and running it by the string >>players). 440 is where he said they maintain their Bosie, and the >>strings were fine with that. I was to have 90 minutes with the >>piano (tune & some voicing as per the pianist's request), then the >>session would commence. (It went the full 7 1/2 hours available to >>them.) I was not engaged to stand-by or be on call, so leaving a >>stable tuning was the foremost consideration in my mind. When I >>arrived, I found the unisons and octaves sounding not too >>shabby. In a situation like this, however, close does NOT count, >>and "good enough" is not good enough. The pitch was generally >>between 440 and 441, so I made the executive/battlefield decision >>to depart from our agreement and set my SAT II at 440.5 (because it >>would require the least pitch change overall). That did not turn >>out to be a problem for anyone. >> >>As I went through the scale, I noticed that some notes were further >>off than others. B4 was a bit sharper than it's neighbors, for >>example. B5, even more so, and B6 about 13 cents sharper than the >>other pitches in that area. (For those amongst us who do not use >>gizmos and may not be familiar with the parlance, 13 cents is a >>substantial deviation when surrounding pitches are much closer to a >>given curve.) Knowing that the quality of chords (expected to be >>in equal temperament) in the high end was crucial to this piece, >>those "B"s (and certain other pitches, to a lesser degree) HAD to >>be reigned in. And they had to be stable enough to last all day >>with me 30 miles away. >> >>Like the man said, "Mission accomplished!" >> >>As I headed out of the studio, the manager approached me, noted he >>hadn't seen me there before and asked why I needed, "So much time >>with the piano." I gave a brief accounting of myself and inquired >>as to who normally services this instrument. A well-known and >>highly-thought-of tech here in L. A. who specializes in studio >>work. "Tunes by ear." I know this individual and attested to the >>fact that he is one of the best available. >> >>As I drove away, I couldn't escape the thought (we do a lot of >>thinking behind the wheel of our cars here in "Hell A.") that this >>piano probably gets those touch-ups by ear alone, which Israel has >>described so well previously in this thread, as a regular diet, not >>just while recording the same piece, but from session to >>session. It must have been a while since it was last thoroughly >>tuned, from scratch. >> >>So this was a situation distinct from that of touching up the >>tuning while a session is in progress. However, it is related in >>that touch-ups seemed to be the order of the day at this $175/hr >>studio (what, in order to save money--go figure?). Given that it >>is such a high-end operation, the reasoning behind that eludes me. >> >>Should I have changed the thread to, "When touch-ups become tunings"? >> >>FWIW, >> >>Alan Eder >>
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