Tuning Standard

David Vanderhoofven david@vanderpiano.com
Wed, 04 Jan 2006 13:06:51 -0600


Hi Arlie,

Short answer, and sorry about the lack of time for a full answer.

1.  Technicians who don't know how to do pitch raises or how to sell pitch 
raises.
2.  Musicians who don't care that their piano is 1/2 step flat and/or don't 
want to pay for the pitch raise.
3.  Pianos with extreme rust and the technician is afraid of replacing 
broken strings
4  Pianos with extreme rust and the customer doesn't want to pay for 
replacing broken strings
5.  Worn out, moth-eaten, rusted out hulks that have received almost no 
service and the cost of the pitch raise would be more than the value of the 
piano.
6.  Structural damage to the piano and the piano couldn't take the extra 
tension on the strings without serious damage.

Must my 2 cents:  A piano that is 1/2 step flat is not suited for use by a 
musician or student.  A piano needs to be at the correct pitch for 
ear-training, music lessons, performances and playing with other musical 
instruments or recordings.  It doesn't make sense to me to leave a piano 
1/2 step flat unless the client is unwilling or unable to pay for the pitch 
correction.  And if the customer is unwilling to pay for the pitch 
correction that is necessary, they are also unlikely to pay for any other 
needed service the piano needs.

Just some ideas off of the top of my head.
Sincerely,

David A. Vanderhoofven
Registered Piano Technician
Joplin, MO

At 12:14 PM 1/4/2006, you wrote:
>A friend in Brazil has been talking to me about the possibility of
>beginning tuning, and I'd be glad to help out.  But she says that
>there pianos are generally tuned 1/2 step flat.  I'm curious about
>that.  Does anyone know why that might be?  Because of that, she says
>they have mostly limited themselves to keyboards to avoid the obvious
>pitch/transposing challenges.
>
>Arlie Rauch
>Glendive, MT
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


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