[pianotech] New Asian piano that will not hold a tuning

[Ron Nossaman]

>> From: David Trasoff <david at davidtrasoff.com>
>> I am wondering what ideas or experience people have concerning the  
>> possible reasons a new Korean-made piano seems to be incapable of  
>> holding pitch. It's a 5'3" Samick-made grand. It was tuned prior to  
>> delivery in early September 08 (I assume it was; I didn't do it). When  
>> I gave it its post-delivery service in September it had slipped  
>> 30-40¢. I pitch-raised and tuned it.

September to December, at least in my corner of the planet, 
involves an often dramatic RH% drop with the heat coming on, 
and a correspondingly dramatic drop in pitch.


>> By December the customer was complaining; I made another service call  
>> and found the piano again 30-40¢ flat. I again double tuned it (using  
>> the RCT pitch raise function) and left it on pitch. I tuned the piano  
>> again in the beginning of June and found the bass about 25¢ flat, the  
>> midrange from 10-15¢ flat to on pitch, and the high treble 80¢ or more  
>> flat! It seems pretty obvious that something is moving around in  
>> there, a bad glue joint in the frame? an improperly secured plate?

December to June, in spite of the humidity rise, is still six 
months, which is a long time for a new piano with an unknown 
level of prep before sale. I've had new Kimballs I did 50+ 
cent pitch raises on three times in nine months before they 
settled down (I know, it's not possible for Kimballs to ever 
settle down, but...). Often, the owner gave up on me after the 
third tuning, figuring it was my fault, and hired someone else 
to do the next one. By then, duh, the things had quit doing 
the monster settling thing, and the next tuner had no problem 
with them. Those who stayed with me found the same thing.

So I'd not go looking for trouble just yet, but offer to (at a 
standard rate) settle coils, lift strings, form strings around 
bridge pins and hitches (not "seating"), and generally getting 
the slop out of the system. Then another (probably) pitch 
raise and tuning, and see what develops, with another tuning 
scheduled a couple of months out.

If it hasn't calmed down by then, it's dangerous.
Ron N