Tom It being "grandma's" piano, I am going to assume it is an early 1900's model. I have tuned my share of those older ones, and they are much easier to tune than the newer Steinway uprights, from the mid '50 and later. In fact, even if it's been 10 years or more since it was last tuned, don't be surprised that it's still dead on. (presuming it was tuned to A440 10 years ago). What you will have to look for is the condition of the strings and pins. But even if they show some rust, in just about all of the ones I've worked on, everything was still solid, including bridges, pin block and soundboard. Of course, depending on how much it was used, the action might be shot or worn, but that's another story. Wim. -----Original Message----- From: Tom Rhea, Jr. <rheapiano at cox.net> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sat, Nov 20, 2010 4:19 pm Subject: [pianotech] Steinway Upright 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 (757) 373-0284 rheapiano at cox.net Graduate, Randy Potter School of Piano Technology Certified Installer, Dampp-Chaser Piano Lifesaver Humidity Control Systems -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101121/cba58347/attachment-0001.htm>
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