Practice room grands

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Dave,
	I don't really have a schedule, but I like to aim at once a month. In 
reality, it ends up being about 6 times a year, but I try to supplement by 
doing a rapid walk through - dealing with the worst unisons, or maybe a 
section or two like low tenor and high treble - every three weeks or so.
	I also try (and come fairly close) to shape hammers once a year, and 
supplement with a rapid crown steaming at mid year - Roger Jolly method. I 
use a men's handkerchief, wrung out and stretched over hammers (it covers 
about a section), and just ssst, ssst, ssst. Five minutes, and the bite is 
gone. If string grooves are in evidence (fairly prominent), I run the 
hammer rapidly over the crowns in a shoeshine type action (as in shoe shine 
with a brush, as opposed to a cloth. Touch, lift, touch, lift). The way I 
visualize it, the steam has puffed up the felt in the grooves about to 
where it was prior to having been played hard for a few months, but the 
felt out of the grooves was puffed as well. So I am ironing the nongroove 
area back to level. I like the results, especially for the little time 
involved. I think this helps keep string breakage down, as well (though I 
don't have the dedicated students you are blessed and cursed with).
Regards
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Wednesday, September 17, 2003 9:28 AM -0500 "David M. Porritt" 
<dm.porritt@verizon.net> wrote:

>
> The grand pianos in practice rooms, the ones reserved for the piano
> performance majors, how often do you tune these?  Do you have a schedule?
> How do you determine that?
>
>
>
> I have these pianos listed in my inventory as 6x per year and I don't
> feel that this is enough.
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> Comments?
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>
> dave
>
>
> __________________________________________
>
> David M. Porritt, RPT
>
> Meadows School of the Arts
>
> Southern Methodist University
>
> Dallas, TX 75275
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>