[pianotech] Developing confidence - was Steinway Upright

William Monroe bill at a440piano.net
Sun Nov 21 07:13:11 MST 2010


I agree with David - no disrespect, Terry.  But - it really is just another
piano.  True what you say that S&S uprights can be troublesome and perhaps a
bit unique in how we have to tune them.  However, I'd suggest that the same
can be said for a Baldwin Upright, or a Knabe Grand, or a Schimmel upright
(very nice, but with my standard tuning technique they've given me fits once
in a while).  Point being, every make has it's own idiosyncrasies, and we've
got to develop a technique to work with them all.  So maybe it would be more
accurate to say that there will be a learning curve, but it should be pretty
steep.

As with most of the work we do, you've just got to be willing and able to
adapt your technique to the job at hand. Or, "it's just another
piano........."

William R. Monroe



On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 5:57 AM, Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>wrote:

> DAVID!!!  Please be careful what you say! You stated that:
>
>> ...there is one particular model
>>
>> of Steinway I've heard technicians curse, but I never run into
>> them.
>>
>
>
> If you have not run into them, then how can you conclude?:
>
>> ...it's just another piano, and no more daunting than any
>> other.
>>
>
>
> My experience is that just about any S&S vertical - console, studio
> upright, upright made since 1950 or so can pose a good bit of a challenge to
> the average tech. If the pins are fairly tight or tighter in the block, with
> no tuning bushings, I certainly find  these things to be a bit of a bear to
> tune and be confident they will hold their tune. If yours is an old upright,
> it probably won't be much different than any other old upright. I have about
> a dozen S&S verticals in my regular service - a few old ones, but most since
> 1950.
>
> But don't fear the piano. If you do find setting the pins to be
> troublesome, just realize it will take a bit more time. Try different
> motions with your tuning lever and see if you don't find one that works
> better for you than others. There is a book that I bought maybe ten years
> ago that addressed nothing but tuning lever technique - what was the name of
> it? - maybe someone will chime in with the name - it might be good to read
> that before tuning this piano as it might give you some lever methods you
> hadn't thought to try.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
>
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