Story and Clark not tuned for 30 years!!

[Bob Hull]

Hi Sam,

I hope you can study about some different pitch
raising techniques if you haven't already.

Judging from your assessment, it sounds like there is
not any reason you couldn't successfully bring this
piano up to A440 through a good pitch raise technique
and then fine tuning.   

Six months is too long to wait and go back to retune
this piano.  Major adjustments in pitch need to be
followed up much sooner than that or the major pitch
adjustments will be necessary again.

>When I moved my tuning hammer, the pitch
> would go up, then go down when I released it.

Were the tuning pins tight enough in the pin block to
hold their pitch at least for a few minutes? If not
you will have to address this issue before any tuning
can be done. 

Bob Hull
--- Samuel Choy <sam at scpianoservice.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> The other day, I tuned an old Story and Clark
> upright. When I opened it, I 
> found the business card of the last tech who tuned
> it. It was dated 
> 07/26/1976, almost exactly 30 years ago.
> 
> Norm Larson of South Haven, Minnesota, are you still
> around?
> 
> A gave it a quick inspection, and it appeared to be
> in decent shape. I 
> vacuumed it out for the customer. There didn't
> appear to be any rust on the 
> tuning pins or the strings. Most of the hammers
> didn't have any grooves, and 
> those that did were very slight. The soundboard
> didn't have any cracks.
> 
> I didn't dare raise it to pitch because it had been
> so long since it was 
> tuned. I just tuned it to itself. It was the most
> horribly out of tune piano 
> I have tuned in my short career. When I was over, it
> still sounded terrible 
> to me, but the customer was thrilled. He said it was
> the best he ever heard 
> it sound (he's not a piano player). I was honest and
> didn't pretend that I 
> was happy with how it sounded. I told him that it
> would take several tunings 
> to make it sound good. He's having me back in six
> months to give it another 
> tuning.
> 
> The pins seemed to twist before they moved, making
> the instrument very hard 
> to tune. When I moved my tuning hammer, the pitch
> would go up, then go down 
> when I released it. I ended up very carefully
> applying constant pressure to 
> the tuning hammer until I felt the tuning pin turn a
> little. It worked for 
> me, though it took a long time. As far as hammer
> technique goes, was that 
> something you would have done?
> 
> Also, the piano had a sticker that boasted a 50 year
> guarantee on the sound 
> board. How the heck could Story and Clark make a 50
> year guarantee on the 
> sound board? They'd have no idea what conditions the
> thing would be kept in. 
> What did they make the thing out of? 2" thick
> plywood?
> 
> Sam Choy
> 
> 
> 


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