"training" pianos?

[Clyde Hollinger]

Right on, Jim.

Here's an example of a piano owner doing things right.  She and her husband bought a
Walter studio piano in 2001.  It was to 27 cents flat the first time I tuned it in
October 2001.  Four months later I installed a complete humidity control system.
Tuned 3/02, was to 23c flat.
Tuned 7/02, was to 19c flat.
Tuned 12/02, was to 16cb.
Tuned 4/03, was to 8cb.
Tuned 10/03, was to 4c flat.
The customer has now opted for annual tunings, and this piano is never going to change
much.

All too often new piano owners think the piano doesn't need tuning for a long time
since it is new.  This perception isn't helped by the piano being delivered often
without even an elementary brochure on its proper care.  I still get upset when I think
about that too much.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger, RPT

JIMRPT@aol.com wrote:

>  A newly strung piano has a certain preordained amount of stretching/settling
> to do based on the design/scale/climate.......so in some cases the statement
> could be true....let's say a piano is delivered new to a customer and the
> customer does not have it tuned for two years...surely a pitch raise will be
> called for......and the pitch raise will leave a basically unstable piano with
> still new strings which haven't stopped their streching/settling and a
> soundboard/bridge mechanism which has not settled in to it's final (more or less)
> position... the piano is not tuned again for two years and the same situation is in
> play...another two years, etc., etc.............gonna be an unstable piano for
> a longgggg time huh?
>  Wheras the same piano receiving frequent tunings during the first two years
> will be a much more stable instrument...even after being neglected for the
> following two years...huh?
>  Maybe what we really are discussing are 'unstable customers' :-)
>
> Jim Bryant (FL)