I just had to reply to this one. About three years ago, just before I first got involved in piano technology, I (er, ah, my &*%$ WIFE) bought a brand new S&S 1098 (we went out that day looking for a good used piano for under $1,000 - go figure). Several months later when I started learning to tune, I started practicing on - you know what ........ our brand new S&S 1098. I had a rough time learning to tune (and I'm just talking about tuning hammer technique, as I started with an AccuTuner). It was an absolute #$^% tuning that thing. Finally, after umpteen hundred FRUSTRATING hours practicing on it, a friend of mine with a little junky spinet said I could try tuning his piano. I did. Wow, that was an easy piano to tune. After I started tuning for pay, I got to the point where I was putting a pretty decent tuning on a piano in about an hour-and-a-half. Then we finally got rid of out piece of #$^* S&S 1098. I never did a complete tuning on that piano within one day. I have tuned right around 1,000 pianos now (even several S&S verticals - none were fun) and have NEVER run into a piano that put up as much fight as that new 1098. A TOTAL BEAST! S&S grands (even brand new - I service several) are not problem. Why in the world are the verticals made the way they are? I consider this a design FLAW. (Well, I guess I feel better now :-) Terry Farrell Piano Tuning & Service Tampa, Florida mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jay Mercier" <jaymercier@hotmail.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 11:03 AM Subject: Steinway console tuning > Last week I tuned a 45" Steinway console dated from the early '60s. It was > the most stressful tuning I've ever encountered in years. > > There were many high treble pins that wouldn't stay put - they would bounce > around like nothing I've encountered before. I lowered the pitch just > slightly, no matter how much I'd overshoot the pitch flat, many pins would > just bounce right back up! > > Equipped with a D.C. unit, and striking the keys very hard, these pins just > wouldn't settle. Pins were tight, no visible problems in the soundboard or > bridge. The owner was getting irritated that the tuning took a bit over 2 > hours. I didn't want to tell her what I thought of her precious "Steinway." > > Have any of you tuned similar Steinway consoles with similar circumstances? > > Jay Mercier > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC