wrestling an alligator

[Piannaman@aol.com]

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Terrry, David, Hazen,

Thanks for the posts.  I've tuned many Baldwins, but never one like this.  
That's why I suspected that it was the lack of care that caused the 
difficulties.  

Terry, come to think of it, it must have been 5 ' 1"; it just looked bigger 
than it was because of it's placement in a small room.  I've got to admit, 
for a small grand, it sounded pretty good.  If I can convince them to get it 
serviced regularly, it will end up being really nice.  Can't imagine that 
I'll be able to convince them to regulate it, though.

What I found a bit ironic, is that the prevoius night I'd tuned a 50 year old 
Baldwin Hamilton Studio that I had tuned back in August.  They probably 
wouldn't have even called had the bridle straps not been scraping on the back 
of the fall board(they had it pushed in too far, so I put some stops on it).  
The piano was perfectly at pitch, and a dream to tune.  It went so fast, I 
threw in a bit of capstan and let-off adjustment for a nominal fee(he's a 
poor music student who appreciates his instrument).  

On my way home from that job I was thinking wonderful thoughts about Baldwin 
products, unaware of the alligator that awaited me the next day.

Dave

in In a message dated 3/22/03 6:30:55 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
dnereson@dim.com writes:


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <A HREF="mailto:Piannaman@aol.com">Piannaman@aol.com</A> 
> To: <A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> 
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 12:34 AM
> Subject: wrestling an alligator
> 
> 
> List, 
> 
> Well, it wasn't really an alligator, but when I was done with the Baldwin 
> M(5' 8" grand), circa 1965, I felt as if I'd been in a river with a large 
> reptile.  ON the surface, it seemed like a nice piano, except the lady told 
> me it hadn't been tuned in probably 20 years.  The husband later informed 
> me that a "cowboy from Oklahoma" was the last guy that tuned it.  Probably 
> told her that it would never tuning again. 
> 
> Anyway, after a pitch raise(only 10% +/- flat in the middle, slightly more 
> at the ends), I grappled with trying to get a decent tuning in it.  These 
> pianos have no tuning pin bushings, and I guess that's what makes them want 
> to spring right back to where you started from.  This particular instrument 
> had pins that popped just as they were about to fall into place, and 
> voila--10% flat or sharp again!  And it was whiny as a newborn baby.  
> Almost as whiny as me right now. 
> 
> I can normally do a pitch raise and fine tuning in  1 1/2 hours or slightly 
> less if the piano wasn't way off to start with.  I was battling this 
> monster for 2 1/2 hours.  The lady kvetched a bit when I told her I was 
> going to charge her for a pitch raise.  Of all da noive! 
> 
> Question:  would regular tuning over the previous two decades have smoothed 
> out the tuning pin rotation at all?   
> 
> Amazingly, the piano sounded pretty good when I was done.  I hate to admit 
> this, but after that ordeal, I was happy to get to my next customer's Pearl 
> River. 
> 
> Dave Stahl
>  
>     I think the cowboy and the tuning pin bushings are the smallest factors 
> and the largest ones are being a Baldwin (tight tuning pins) and the 20 
> years of not being tuned.  Yes, it would probably be easier to tune if it 
> had received regular tunings over the years, especially for the first few 
> years of its life.  Baldwins still tend to be a bit of a struggle, but the 
> bushings have very little to do with setting the pin and the string.  
> Steinways and probably some other brands don't have them, either, but its 
> wanting to spring back is due more to never having been stabilized at 
> pitch.  --David Nereson, RPT, Denver 
> 



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