[pianotech] Steinway Upright

Floyd Gadd fg at floydgadd.com
Sat Nov 20 19:36:22 MST 2010


Hi Tom,
My experience is limited--I picked up a 1965 Steinway  Sheraton 45" upright this summer.  The treble had a lot of false beats until I put a tiny drop of thin CA glue at each of the bridge pins.  The 8 or so wound strings above the tenor break will need to be replaced, as at least a couple of them are exhibiting enough false beats to render the unisons untunable.  A couple of unisons in the upper mid-range went out badly after the first time I tuned it (this doesn't happen to me much these days), but the second tuning proved to be stable.  
Like you, I was intimidated going in, due to what I had heard.  I expect most of the problems you run into will be ones you've seen before on cheaper pianos.
Floyd Gadd
Manitoba Chapter.
Quote:
List: I was approached by a potential client who wanted me to tune her late grandmother's Steinway upright. It was recently moved from her grandmother's home to its present location and, regretfully, hasn't been tuned in many (read: more than ten) years. Of course I agreed, since I'm working hard to get my fledgling business off the ground, but then I remembered that a number of technicians in my limited experience had been less than complimentary of the Steinway upright due to its quirky nature during tuning. My inclination is to approach this tuning with no preconceptions but alarm bells are still insistently ringing in my head. Are there any pitfalls or booby traps that I should be aware of before attempting this daunting task? Your collective wisdom will be most appreciated. Tom Rhea Piano Service Tom Rhea, Jr., Technician 
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