Stable Floor tunings?

[Charly Tuner]

Bob,

Very interesting information...which is why I love this list! Btw, After 
only 3 weeks on the job as a floor tuner, and having tuned 4-5 pianos a day 
(I guess that's a lot of pin turning for a newbie!), my tuning hand, 
specifically my fingers and thumb joint is very noticably stiff and painful 
in the morning and late at night...feels like arthritis..and I'm still a 
young man! Wonder if this could just be a result of having NEVER done this 
before, and I may be over-doing it a bit, too much too soon, right out of 
the gate. Anyway, I guess this is part of the game. I am going to start a 
strength training program where i work out...concentrating on neck, back and 
upper body. In the mean time I think I'll take this opportubity to take a 
couple aspirin and soak my hand in some epson salts! Ariverduchee

Terry


>From: Bdshull@AOL.COM
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: Re: Stable Floor tunings?
>Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 04:24:16 EST
>
>Hi, Terry:
>
>I "cut my teeth" doing floor work for a Baldwin dealer from 1980 to 1985.
>Incredibly tight pins in some of the grands, which meant eventually I could
>just about tune anything.  I learned to go through a piano twice as quickly
>as possible, with moderate hard blows the last time through but not wasting
>time on perfection, focusing on unisons.  Two passes will usually get the
>best results, following standard pitch raise/lowering formula.  You should
>push yourself to get your time down to 30-40 minutes total for both passes.
>I always strip muted the entire piano - saves at least 10 minutes.
>
>And Richard is right about humidity.  Several articles can be found in the
>Journal about this, and the pianotech archives are full of this subject.  
>In
>southern California we experience wide extremes of humidity and not as 
>great
>a variance in temperature as the rest of the country.  You can tune a piano
>after a week of rain, but a day or two after a dry high pressure system has
>begun, and a day or two later it will drop 10-20 cents.   Just because of 
>the
>abrupt drop in RH.   Mild fluctuations  in RH will also move the tenor up 
>and
>down and make you look bad.
>
>Don't worry much about the heater being turned down at night in LA;  the 
>big
>problem is the big change in air moisture content, and that is exacerbated 
>by
>the fact that most of the pianos you are tuning are new, so the SB's are at
>their most dimensionally unstable.  But if you are willing to learn, you 
>will
>quickly develop tuning skills and speed.  Just listen to your body at the
>first sign of tendonitis etc., and back off and rest for a while when you
>need to.  You can build tuning endurance and stamina - It sounds like you
>already are!
>
>My feeling about pounding (relating to Richard's response) is that for 
>floor
>work a single, moderately hard blow is all you should give after a firm
>movement/set of the tuning pin.  However, that is no insurance of a
>rock-solid tuning, just a servicable floor tuning.  What is the point of
>repeated pounding when the piano is so unstable anyway?  However, I have
>always used repeated blows in C&A work, and played the piano hard 
>afterwards
>if there was time, fixing errant unisons as they popped up.  I think the 
>best
>training for C&A is the dealer work, where you develop speed and 
>confidence.
>
>Bill Shull
>
>In a message dated 00-03-04 19:00:12 EST, you write:
>
><< 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 >>

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