Story and Clark not tuned for 30 years!!

[David Ilvedson]

I agree with Bob...no reason not to bring it to pitch...that piano at A440, up to tension, would have sounded it's best...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044


----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Bob Hull" <hullfam5 at yahoo.com>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 7/21/2006 2:08:29 PM
Subject: Re: Story and Clark not tuned for 30 years!!


>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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