I'm thoroughly enjoying and finding interesting bits from Jack Greenfield's "A History of Midwestern Piano Manufacturing". To quote: "The most frequent problem tuners encountered was loose tuning pins. Lack of humidity in homes heated by steam radiators was quite common. A remedy for this was placing quart Mason jars filled with water inside the pianos. Some tuners stated their belief that the loose tuning pins were the result of pins being driven in stringing rather than being turned. One of the tuners with a European background stated that in Europe all manufacturers turned tuning pins." My reactions: . . . and yet some people think that because their home is heated with steam or hot water radiators, there's plenty of humidity. I try to explain that the water and steam remain contained in the pipes (unless they leak), and it doesn't furnish any humidity to the piano, but many remain convinced that it's not as dry as forced-air heat. And I know that to this day we all still find empty, dry jars in the bottoms of vertical pianos; sometimes even under grands. Never heard of any manufacturers actually turning all their tuning pins in rather than driving them, but maybe there were exceptions (?). Another quote: "Pianos were usually tuned five or six times at the factory. Factory tuning was not well paid. A tuner working for Adam Schaaf, Chicago, said most factory tuners working on piece work earned no more than $0.75 or $1.00 per tuning and it took 2 1/2 hours to do a good job -- a half hour more than stringing!" [Stringing took two hours. This was around 1916.] I wonder if the 2 1/2 hours was just turning tuning pins, or also squeezing hitch pin loops, beckets, seating strings, helping the wire conform to its various bends, etc., and maybe some voicing (?) -- although I can certainly believe spending that amount of time on a new piano just getting it to stay at pitch -- I've had stubborn ones take me just as long! Couple more quotes: "Some dealers considered tuners a "necessary evil" and some salesmen would never tell customers that pianos required regular tuning." reaction to first part of sentence: They still do. reaction to second part of sentence. They still don't. ". . . . Such dealers with a staff of outside service sold three-year contracts for twice yearly tuning in the home and more frequently in public places or the "nickel show." [movie houses which had player pianos] In a few old uprights I've noticed three or four tuning dates on the plate within a year or two of the date of manufacture -- could've been one of those contracts. This was the idea behind Yamaha's "first free tuning" and "six month service bond", which I thought was a good idea and got the customer thinking "twice a year" right away.
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