[pianotech] Yamaha gb1

["Rafael M. Huberman Muñiz"]

Hi Marshall,

String players are particularly anoying clients! They tune thier  
instruments with pure fifths so they ALWAYS hear a piano out of  
tune... Nothing to do about it...
Good luck and happy thanksgiving!

Rafael Huberman


On 23/11/2011, at 10:32 p.m., Marshall Gisondi wrote:

Hi Everyone,
Today I went to tune a Yamaha GB1.  Last week when this woman called  
me, I was informed that her husband who is a cello player has really  
good ears and they've used three piano techs before who just couldn't  
seem to get the piano in tune or to stay.  So today I went to tune it,  
and before I did, I thought I'd take the little piece of hammer shank  
I have and go through and press gently near the bridge pins and close  
to the loop on the hitch pin to see if checking the string seating  
woudl help.  Then I tuned it, fixed a squeak in the two pedals, levers  
were squeaking.  So I thought great, I'm done. WRONG.

So the husband comes in, plays the piano and complains that the it  
sounded off in the "mid range" as he called it.  I spent extra  
attention with the E flat 3 and E4 octave while my poor wife and son  
waited for me in the car.  I worked with each note individually honed  
in the unisons even more.  He said the octave sounded flat, I said "Ok  
lets do some tests." Tests revealed octave was not flat.  He said that  
he didn't recall the piano doing this when they lived in CA.  His  
daughter who was ten maybe or  younger said to the extent, maybe  
you're were not paying attention.lol  I did notice that when I would  
depress the key very softly, the damper lifting would make this cool  
zing sound as if the note itself was playing softly, not the zing as a  
dry damper would make but sounds like the key is playing really low  
like someone trying to play an electric guitar with the powerr turned  
off.  push a note and hear the note sound ever so softly just by the  
damper lifting and the hammer not even touching it.

So is this sound mixing in with the clean sound of the octaves causing  
his ears to hear what he is complaining about?  Are Yamaha GB1s known  
for any scaling problems?  Are these an improvement from the GA1 which  
they discontinued?  I'm the 4th piano tech, and so far I made the  
problem less annoying for him than any of the others could, but how  
can I be the tech that saves the day?.  I checked octaves, unisons,  
and I'm stumped. What do you guys think?  Is the damper making the  
note sound when I depress the key ever so gently causing this odd  
harmonic he is hearing?  I suggested that he hang in there with me so  
that I can research this and help him find a solution.  I involved him  
as much as I could but by the time I finally got out of there I was  
pretty aggrevated.  This messed up our schedule causing us to get  
stuck in traffic, thus picking up our youngst son at day  care even  
later and feeding the kids later.  I wish I could have solved this  
puzzler.  Thanks again Everyone.  I hope you have a great  
Thanksgiving.  I know we will  sorry for the long e-mail, but I had to  
describe this the best I knew how for clarity.
Marshall


Marshall Gisondi Piano Technician
Marshall's Piano Service
pianotune05 at hotmail.com
215-510-9400
www.phillytuner.com
Graduate of The School of Piano Technology for the Blind www.pianotuningschool.org 
  Vancouver, WA





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