Tuning Steinway Verticals

[Ed Sutton]

Jeff Tanner wrote:
>
> However, new ones?  Last new ones I tuned had tuning pins so tight the
> casters would come off the floor when you pulled the tuning hammer.  Then,
> there's the "surprise" pins!  (you know, the ones where you get ready to
> pull hard, you hear "snap!" and all of a sudden the pitch has jumped a
> major third?)
>
> So, I agree with what some of you said last week, that I don't think it's a
> problem at all with rendering.  You can just bump the pin and the pitch
> changes.  It's how tight those pins are and how far the coil is from the
> block, which creates the flagpoling, that makes them so hard to tune.
>
> Oh, and the false beats.
>
> Ed, use your VTD if you want to keep what hair you have left.  Just dig in,
> and don't expect it to sound like a Yamaha when you're finished.
>
> The other weird thing to watch for is when you're pounding the keys, some
> notes actually come out quieter than with a normal blow.
>

Jeff-

You have described the new 1098 to a "T!"  Especially the "surprise" pins.

This is what you get for a $17,000 vertical piano.  My customers could have bought
a Kawai for $7000.  (They were not my customer when they bought it; I'm the 5th
technician to work on it in 2 years.)

By the way, I recently tuned a new Mason & Hamlin A.  All the parts were where
they were supposed to be, tuning was smooth and predictable, and the piano is
responding beautifully to voicing.  I'm delighted to be able to say that it is
possible to make a fine piano with excellent quality control in the United States.

Oh, I've given up on the hair.  I use the VTD to save my mind.  Sorta.

Ed S.