spinet octaves

[Charles Neuman]

I don't mean to start a spinet-bashing session, but I just want to see if
it's me or the piano:

When tuning a spinet, I find it hard to make nice clean octaves. (I use an
ETD to tune, but I also do everything aurally as I tune, for practice.)
The other day, the customer was sitting in the same room as me while I
tuned. I was embarassed that I was tuning their piano and couldn't get a
clean-sounding octave! So I moved on, worried about what the final result
would sound like. She didn't seem to notice anything wrong. I'm still not
sure if I did any good to the piano or not.

So do I need more practice, or am I doing what can be done? Note: I don't
seem to have this problem on a Steinway B.

By the way, those Baldwin spinets have a surprisingly good sound for their
size, I have to admit. I always emphasize that to the customer, and they
seem proud. I still would rather not be near one, but for what they are,
they seem not so bad.

Charles Neuman
PTG Assoc, Long Island - Nassau