square grand tuning: fun

[Piannaman@aol.com]

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Tom,

I've tuned one, and only one, and my experience was similar to yours.  It had 
a really sweet sound, especially when tuned to 438(prescribed on the plate in 
factory letters) to a Broadwood's best temperament.  My back didn't hurt 
either.  While the action wasn't up to modern standards(no abs-graphite in 
there...:-), it worked okay for simple stuff.  All in all, a rewarding experience.

Glad to hear you enoyed it,

Dave Stahl

In a message dated 12/21/04 8:50:32 PM Pacific Standard Time, Tvak@aol.com 
writes:


> List
> 
> Everything I know about tuning square grands I learned from what I've read 
> here on the list.  Never having done it, and having a fondness for things 
> ancient, I read most of the posts about square grands.  And from what I've read, 
> it's something you would do only when faced with a firing squad.  Why?  
> Because your back will be sore for days afterwards from bending over the thing 
> trying to reach the tuning pins and hit the key at the same time.  
> 
> Still...I was willing to have a sore back just to have the experience of 
> working on one.  
> 
> Well, for those of you who haven't had the joy yet, let me say that it ain't 
> necessarily so.  I tuned my first square grand this week and it was fun.  
> Yeah, I had to stretch a bit to reach the tuning pins but I used my Schaff 
> extension hammer and I really had to stand (or stoop over) the piano only to 
> reach the top octave.  The other pins I could reach while sitting at the bench.  
> (Stool, actually...)
> 
> Maybe this was a small square, and thus was easier to reach the tuning pins. 
>  Then again, maybe some people are just whiners.  
> 
> Maybe both!
> 
> This square, a Hallet and Davis, was a charming piano with a quaint sound.  
> There were no trichords, even the steel treble strings were all bichords, so 
> the tuning went fast.  There were a few bass wound bichords that were 
> difficult (impossible) to tune a true unison on, but hey, I had the exact same 
> experience with a Steinway 45" vertical today. 
> 
> Just thought I'd present a different viewpoint on the experience.
> 
> Tom Sivak
> Chicago PTG Associate
> 
> P.S.
> For the record, I'm 5'11", and am not built like an orangutan: my arm length 
> is proportional to my height!  (Just thought I'd cut a couple of jokes in 
> 



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