Another piano handyman

[Tom Cole]

I got a call from a man, an engineer, who bought an old upright piano
which was way below pitch. He didn't care that it was painted green but
wanted it tuned to standard pitch. While setting the temperament, I
broke 4 strings and, after informing the owner of how the bill was
beginning to mount up, we decided to go with tuning it a half step low
after all.

He called me again several months later wanting it retuned. I returned
to find that he had shifted the keyframe to the right sufficient to
transpose everything up a half step. He even drilled the back end of the
last key of each section to receive a heavy guage wire which was bent to
the right to actuate the first sticker of the next section.

After I tuned it and put the case parts back on, you couldn't tell that
it was "re-engineered" (as long as you didn't play A0 or C88).

Tom

Mike Erickson wrote:
> 
>   One of my customers (or a past owner) found another creative way to
> fix his loose tuning pin problem. The piano resides in the small, rustic
> mountain community of Oracle, Arizona. I have only been at this piano
> once, so far.  This very old piano had no apparent brand name (weird
> looking agraffes). It had a cut down case modification with mirror
> across the top. The tuning pin area was open wood (no plate covering).
> 
>   The fix, I am just guessing, went something like this:  While the
> tuning pins remained in their existing loose holes, an enterprising
> Do-it-yourselfer drilled completely NEW pin holes in the block, - - -
> unfortunately NOT in a logical pattern, and then he somehow moved the
> tuning pins with strings over to his NEW holes, leaving the original
> holes empty.  This solution may have worked only a short while, if at
> all, because after realizing that the new holes were too large and the
> pins still loose, he had to again drill a SECOND ROUND of randomly
> placed holes (probably with a smaller drill bit) and then moved ALL the
> strings and pins over a second time... leaving about 440 empty holes in
> the aftermath (many of the old holes he tidied up by filling with wood
> dowel).
> 
>    When tuning, I must follow each string to find the corresponding
> tuning pin - because there is no sequence.  If I ever have the pleasure
> of tuning it again (all the pins are still very loose - even at 1/2 step
> low)  I will surely bring my camera and tripod.
> Mike Erickson, Tucson, AZ
> 
> .-

-- 
Thomas A. Cole RPT
Santa Cruz, CA