[CAUT] False Beats and George Winston

[Ronald E Engle]

I have done a number of tunings for George Winston also.  He is always a
gentleman and all business.  His playing concentrates mostly on the 5th
and 6th octaves.  The first time I tuned for him he told me these octaves
typically have false beats on Steinway D's and to do what I could.  I
always wait for him back stage at intermission to see if he needs
anything other than touch up and he would tell me what he wanted as he
walked right on past.  He often pounds muted strings in the bass for
special effects and once at intermission he told me one of those notes
kept on ringing.  When I checked it I found he knocked a damper felt out
of alignment.  I debated telling him about it but felt he should know so
he could be more careful.  I told him about is as he came out of the
dressing room after intermission and he shook his head yes and kept right
on going.  Once the stage crew got the lighting wrong  and he told them
not to let it happen again.  He strives for perfection and expects that
out of others also.  At the end of one concert he gave credits to the
audience and actually thanked the piano tuner and mentioned my name.  I
truly look forward to when he comes to the area.

Ron Engle, RPT


On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:23:27 -0400 "maxpiano" <maxpiano at sc.rr.com>
writes:
> In a performance/theater venue, I service a Yamaha CFIII that has 
> some fast 
> false beat issues on 2-3 keys in the top octave and very few false 
> beats in 
> the rest of the piano.  I am told this was the piano Andre Watt used 
> during 
> his (brief?) departure from the Steinway Artist fold some 15 years 
> ago. 
> Nothing I have tried so far on D#7 and F7 has worked, such as 
> tapping the 
> bridge pins.  The beats do not respond to pushing against the bridge 
> pins 
> with a screwdriver, so I am assuming it is not an issue of loose 
> bridge 
> pins.
> 
> George Winston is to be there a week from tomorrow.  This will be 
> about the 
> fourth time I have tuned this piano for his concerts.  He complains 
> about 
> unisons in the treble, and doesn't seem to know how to sort out the 
> 
> difference between bad unisons and false beats.  I get the 
> impression he is 
> not open to the suggestion that false beats are par for the course 
> up there, 
> and he wants all the focus he can get at the top.  He has the habit 
> of 
> carrying a bunch of rubber mutes with him and laying them next to 
> the tuning 
> pins wherever he detects a bad unison, both before the concert after 
> he has 
> practiced, and during the show for touch-up at intermission.  
> Interesting, 
> at intermission there may be some hairy unisons in the tenor/low 
> treble with 
> no mutes laid down, but a proliferation of them by the top octave!
> 
> I am wondering if it would help, when I go to prepare the piano a 
> week from 
> today, a day ahead of the concert (I'll be touching it up the 
> afternoon of 
> the concert) if I would go prepared with emery cloth strips to 
> shoeshine the 
> capo bar on the affected notes.  I trust I could get the strings 
> settled 
> down again after the loosening.  I have also thought of Roger 
> Jolly's 
> suggestion of taking the rear end of a coil lifter tool (the 3 
> notches for 
> aligning strings), setting it onto the 3 strings of a unison and 
> driving it 
> sideways and back, but I don't want to risk breaking strings.
> 
> Any advice or other suggestions for quieting the false beats in the 
> top 
> octave?
> 
> Bill Maxim, RPT
> Columbia, SC 
> 
> 
>