"Old School Teachings"

[John Ross]

Hi Terry,
I run across quite a few pianos, that had been tuned within the last 5
years, and they are down, a semi-tone.
I used to wonder why. I have a couple of thoughts on it.
One was, that perhaps it was a vision impaired tuner, and he was afraid of
string breakage.
These are for the most part older pianos.
Another thought, was that he had found that if he did bring them up to
pitch, they didn't stay.
So he just tuned them at the pitch they were at, so they would stay for a
longer time.
I don't know, how the older tuners learned, maybe they were self taught, and
didn't know about pitch raises.
We know, that so much more information is available now, that wasn't 40 - 50
years ago.
I have no proof that my thoughts on this are even close to reality. But
there has to be some reason, that so many pianos are so flat.
I even tuned on the other day, that belonged to a minister. The piano, had
been bought new for him in the early 30's, he did not remember, it ever
having been tuned. It was down, almost a full tone. Not too bad for about 70
years.
Mind you, I am in a Province (State), with a total population, of under a
million. It is a rural area, so keeping a piano tuned regularly, is not a
priority. There is so many other places for the money to go. If I am lucky,
I can get them to tune regularly, for the 3-4 years that lessons are being
taken. I hear all the time, that no one plays it any more, now that the kids
are gone.
Just a few rambling thoughts.
Regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia.
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:18 PM
Subject: "Old School Teachings"


> What did they teach piano tuners decades ago?
>
> Now before I flamed too bad, I have all the respect in the world for
anyone of advanced age, er, a lots of experience. But for those who have
chosen to not keep up with advancements in tuning, I have a question.
>
> I tuned a 1970 (or so) "Kincade" spinet today. Seemed to be a lot like a
"Grand" spinet. Nuff said. The piano was a full half-step flat. The folks
just moved here from Texas. I asked how long had it been since the last
tuning (expecting her to say about 1971), she said about a year ago and that
she had it tuned every six months. I was dumbfounded. They are the original
owners of the piano.
>
> This piano is played by two of her daughters, one has been taking lessons
for four years, and the other for two years. There is no rust on the
strings. There are no cracks in the plate. There is no significant defects
in the plywood soundboard (unless you want to count the whole board as a
defect). This piano should be tuned to A440. This woman was happy as a clam
to pay for two pitch raises and a tuning and thanked my about 100 times for
getting it up to pitch. The older daughter had always complained about the
piano "sounding off".
>
> Now here is the flame Terry part. I asked her if it was an elderly
gentleman that had been tuning the piano. Of course, she said "yes, how did
you know?"
>
> My question: Why is it that many "old school" piano tuners "tune it where
it lies". I can understand the old upright worries (although I find they are
usually not justified), but not a 30 year old piano. I don't think human
intelligence has gone up much since 50 years ago (I can think of many
examples - but this is not a political list!) - I can only assume they were
taught that way. Is that correct?
>
> Terry Farrell
>
>
>