[CAUT] Steinway Upright tuning

[Douglas Wood]

I tune quiet a few Steinway uprights, some of which I like very, very  
much. I have found that they are a bit more work than any other  
pianos (5-30 min), but if given the proper attention, they seem to be  
the most stable instrument I work on.

I have found several things that contribute to the tuning difficulty.  
The tuning pins, until about 3-4 years ago, were 2-5/8" long.  
Apparently because they could count on there being room in the block,  
so why not. An extra 1/8 inch in the block. They are now supposed to  
be 2-1/2, like all other Steinways. And they do feel more like the  
grands.

The counter-bearing hump in the plate has been recently replaced with  
just felt. This is intended to make tuning easier.

The 5th and 6th octave sound that is so "funky" in tuning work  
actually contributes to the musicality of the instrument, if one is  
interested primarily in tone color range. Up to a point, of course.  
Some of them definitely have too much. Of course so do many of the  
grands from the 60's and 70's, eh? Do note that Steinway has been  
through the 1098 scale/production pretty carefully in the last few  
years, and it shows.

The "window of acceptability" in terms of pitch in octaves 5 and 6 of  
the 1098 and K52 seems extremely small to me. That is, the pitch can  
vary very, very little from ideal and still sound decent. Some pianos  
can accept a bit wider variance through that section and still sound  
quite musical. An unforgiving scale, tuning-wise. I do find pRCT very  
helpful, as it is also unforgiving.

So when I tune the Steinway verticals, what I'm thinking about is  
getting the tuning pin in EXACTLY the right position. If it's not,  
the string will slip (up or down) before I can get out the door. If  
it is right, it will stay in tune a long time. This is, of course,  
made much more difficult by having long tuning pins. !

A note on test blows: I have had many experiences where, during my  
first tuning on a piano, a hard test blow will drop the pitch of most  
of the notes on the piano. This seems most obvious on the Steinway  
verticals, and most pronounced in the high treble. The interesting  
thing is that the notes that I have already pounded in tend to go a  
bit sharp as the higher ones get pounded down. I'm guessing it is the  
strings rendering across the bridge and allowing the bridge to  
roll. ? So I tend to pound on the pitch adjustment, and not quite as  
hard in the final tuning. BTW, I usually use a 4-oz pounder. And I  
have 1098's that I'm almost apologizing for tuning 3 years later,  
they are so close. (Note "almost"!) Admittedly, I live in the Pacific  
NW, where the humidity environment is very kind to pianos, but still...

I think that if I tuned any more of these amazing instruments, I  
would tune all of the with an impact hammer. Truth is, I tune about  
75% Steinway grands and 7% Steinway verticals. The rest all over the  
map, so to speak. So the muscle fatigue is similar with standard and  
impact hammers, but quite different muscles are involved.

I have just purchased a Fujan hammer, and am looking forward to  
testing the notion that extremely stiff is good...

Doug Wood


On Aug 16, 2007, at 8:15 AM, Don Mannino wrote:

> Joe,
>
> I'll offer a different approach from some of the others.  I used to  
> tune
> a few of these, and once I sort of got a handle on the tuning  
> technique,
> they didn't bother me much after that.
>
> The root problems behind the difficulty are high string friction and
> high string coils (re: long tuning pins), creating a flexible pin that
> is constantly sprung down.  In addition, the amount of pin set into  
> the
> block may not be as much as we are used to, changing the feel of  
> the pin
> when turning it.  Keep in mind that in this kind of configuration the
> tuning pin itself is a spring, and that the 'spring' is loaded  
> downward
> all the time by string tension.
>
> My technique was to tune it up above pitch normally, then settle  
> the pin
> into a stable spot in the block like usual, but with the pitch still
> somewhat sharp.  How much sharp you have to find by experiment - not
> necessarily a lot, but it depends on the string friction in that
> particular piano.
>
> Then with the tuning lever close to 12:00 I would only spring the pin
> downwards a little - no turning motion at all for this fine tuning.
> Don't bend the pin with steady pressure, but nudge the top of the  
> tuning
> lever straight towards you to bounce the pin without turning it.   
> If you
> can't get the pitch down enough by springing only, go back and use  
> your
> turning motion to settle the pin closer to final pitch, then 'spring'
> down for fine tuning.  If springing sends the pitch too flat, then
> re-settle the pin slightly more sharp before springing.
>
> I found these pianos to be exceptionally stable, and once I got
> comfortable with this tuning method, I had no complaints with them.
>
> I have been told that recent revisions in these models have made them
> much less springy with less friction as well.  I haven't tuned any new
> ones, though.
>
> Don Mannino
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On
>> Behalf Of Joe Wiencek
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:50 PM
>> To: caut at ptg.org
>> Subject: [CAUT] Steinway Upright tuning
>>
>> List,
>> I'm a recent RPT and caut.   Today I was forced to take a break while
>> tuning a Steinway Model 45 piano due to the squirminess of
>> the pitch.
>> Can anyone suggest a plan of attack on these particular (or
>> any Steinway upright) that makes for an efficient tuning session?
>> Thanks,
>> Joe
>>
>> Joe Wiencek
>> jwpiano at earthlink.net
>>
>> tel: 551 358 4006
>>
>