Stable Floor tunings?

[Charly Tuner]

Hi Don,

Thanks for the insightful info! Yep, There are those cheaper (budget) pianos 
that are a nightmare to stabilze, and "pounding" those keys will help, but 
those new strings are still gonna stretch for some time to come, right? I 
hope the management at the store where i work are more understanding of the 
factors that will make a piano, especially new ones, go out of tune fairly 
soon,(within weeks to a couple months) regardless of how hard I "pound the 
tuning in."
Once again, the sun streaming in, sometimes directly on sound boards, and no 
heat at night can't help the painos stay in tune. But I do my best given all 
the conditions, and they seem to sound nearly as good from day to day, when 
i check them randomly. Every so often I'll find that a piano I tuned 2-3 
weeks earlier has dropped a tad in the high treble, or a unison or 2 has 
slipped, in which case I'll do a quick touch-up.

Terry

>From: "Don Mannino" <donmannino@mediaone.net>
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Subject: RE: Stable Floor tunings?
>Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2000 14:27:04 -0800
>
>Terry,
>
>This depends tremendously on the condition of the piano when you started,
>whether you double-tuned the piano the first time, and how hard you pound
>the tuning in.
>
>I had a tough job convincing a store manager once of the need for double
>tunings (and more pay for me) when I first started floor tuning for a large
>store in San Diego.  One week I tuned a new Walter console, then tuned a
>Poole (Aolian) spinet right afterwards. I was working for practically
>nothing, and had asked for an extra $5 when I had to double tune the bad
>ones. They declined, so I just did a single pass on the Poole.  As I recall
>it was a major third flat in the middle, and a major third SHARP (!!!!) in
>the top 2 octaves, and just crazily out of tune in general. Sounded almost
>like it had only been chip tuned in the factory. I did what I could, 
>banging
>it hard and knocking it somewhat close.
>
>When I came back the next week, the manager brought me over to the Poole 
>and
>asked me to tune it again for free, because I "hadn't done a good job."  I
>explained to her that I had spent more time on that Poole than on the
>Walter, and gee, the Walter still sounded great!  If she would authorize me
>to do 2 passes on those really nasty pianos, then I would be able to do a
>better job.  She wouldn't agree, and that was the last day I tuned for her.
>
>New pianos need to be "fed" tunings until they stabilize. Some are pounded
>with "torture machines" in the factory and tuned 6 or more times, while
>others (at least in the past) get little or  no 'playing in' and 3 tunings
>total (including the chip tuning!).
>
>Pound those new pianos hard, do your best to stabilize the strings, and try
>not to spend too much time finessing the temperament as much as the octaves
>and unisons.  The dealer will appreciate having the tunings as stable as 
>you
>can get them.  But they also need to understand that some pianos will have
>to be tuned several times before they sell.
>
>Don Mannino RPT
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
>Of Charly Tuner
>Sent: Saturday, March 04, 2000 12:58 PM
>To: Pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: Stable Floor tunings?
>
>
>For any/all floor tuners on the list: About how often do you find the need
>to re-tune, or at least "touch-up" a previous tuning.......
>
>

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