Birdcage

[Ed Carwithen]

Don't be shy Les, tell us how you really feel!

Ed Carwithen



At 05:20 PM 10/13/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>
>On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Ted Simmons wrote:
>
>> I agree wholeheartedly with you, Les.  But if anyone does intend to tune
>> one don't bother with rubber mutes or a strip mute.  The Papp's mute was
>> invented for just that purpose (I learned that through this list).  It
>> slips between the hammer shanks and does an adequate job.
>> 
>> 
>> >Birdcages are for the birds, NOT piano tuners.  
>
>Hi, Ted:
>
>The rubber mutes I was referring to are those on wire handles. One
>Papp mute won't do the job, you're going to need a bunch of them. And
>although I do occasionally use one, it's been my experience that in-
>stead of completely muting out the string, or strings, they allow some
>leakage of sound which can confuse the tuner. So it boils down to a matter
>of choice. Whether you prefer a Papp's mute, or a wire-handled rubber
>mute, when doing s birdcage, you're going to need a number of them. Of
>course, far and away the BEST choice, is to choose not to tune a bird-
>cage at all.  To the young hot-shots out there. who are convinced that
>we older tuners are full of it and are going to try tuning a birdcage,
>despite what we might say, I do have an additional suggestion to make.    
>If you are bound and determined to tune birdcage pianos, at least have 
>common sense to increase your tuning fee accordingly. Double your nomal
>fee is about right. ALSO, in adiition to the difficulties presented to
>the tuner by its birdcage action, expect to find the piano a major third
>or so flat of pitch, the tuning pins loose, the bass bridge self-des-
>tructing, the hammers worn flat, the dampers leaking badly, the action
>last regulated a hundred years--or more--before you were born, and re-
>member that any semblence of a tuning you do put on this piano will be
>wildly unstable because it's only tuned a couple of times per century--
>whenever anyone dumb enough to take the job comes along! :)
>
>Les Smith
>
>