"Old School Teachings"

[John Ross]

Hi Newton,
After I pressed the send button, I realized that I should have expressed
that a different way. I am sorry Newton, I didn't mean that the way it came
out.
In the old days around here, most of the older tuners were vision impaired,
as the schools for the blind were seemingly the only schools for piano
tuning.
It did seem to be a specific vision impaired person, that had been the
previous tuner, in the majority of the cases.
I will try and restate. There was a tuner who seemed to be the main one who
tuned low, and he just happened to be vision impaired. I assumed that he
didn't want to do a pitch raise, because of the danger of string breakage.
Which to him repairing, would have possibly been harder to do.
I did NOT mean that vision impaired tuners, were in any way inferior.  I
forgot that you had mentioned that you were legally blind. From reading your
numerous informative posts, a person forgets this fact.
If there was anyway to go back in time, and not send that portion of the
message, I would.
You are entirely justified in being pissed off, and I humbly apologize.
Best regards,

John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia.
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Newton Hunt" <nhunt@optonline.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 1:26 AM
Subject: Re: "Old School Teachings"


> > perhaps it was a vision impaired tuner,
>
> Watch yourself Ross, you are stomping on sacred toes.  Mine!  _I_ am
vision impaired, I don't
> like to replace strings but will when they break.  I have been tuning
pianos for almost 40
> years so that makes me old.  I was taught that A440 was the standard and
by God that is where I
> want them.  None of this 442 crap, unless I get very well paid for doing
it.  Or it's the
> middle of summer. :)
>
> It comes down to laziness, incompetence and screw the customer.
>
> Newton (pissed as hell)
>
>
>
>
> John Ross wrote:
> >
> > 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
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>