wrestling an alligator

[Dave Nereson]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Piannaman@aol.com=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 12:34 AM
  Subject: wrestling an alligator


  List,=20

  Well, it wasn't really an alligator, but when I was done with the =
Baldwin M(5' 8" grand), circa 1965, I felt as if I'd been in a river =
with a large reptile.  ON the surface, it seemed like a nice piano, =
except the lady told me it hadn't been tuned in probably 20 years.  The =
husband later informed me that a "cowboy from Oklahoma" was the last guy =
that tuned it.  Probably told her that it would never tuning again.=20

  Anyway, after a pitch raise(only 10% +/- flat in the middle, slightly =
more at the ends), I grappled with trying to get a decent tuning in it.  =
These pianos have no tuning pin bushings, and I guess that's what makes =
them want to spring right back to where you started from.  This =
particular instrument had pins that popped just as they were about to =
fall into place, and voila--10% flat or sharp again!  And it was whiny =
as a newborn baby.  Almost as whiny as me right now.=20

  I can normally do a pitch raise and fine tuning in  1 1/2 hours or =
slightly less if the piano wasn't way off to start with.  I was battling =
this monster for 2 1/2 hours.  The lady kvetched a bit when I told her I =
was going to charge her for a pitch raise.  Of all da noive!=20

  Question:  would regular tuning over the previous two decades have =
smoothed out the tuning pin rotation at all?  =20

  Amazingly, the piano sounded pretty good when I was done.  I hate to =
admit this, but after that ordeal, I was happy to get to my next =
customer's Pearl River.=20

  Dave Stahl

      I think the cowboy and the tuning pin bushings are the smallest =
factors and the largest ones are being a Baldwin (tight tuning pins) and =
the 20 years of not being tuned.  Yes, it would probably be easier to =
tune if it had received regular tunings over the years, especially for =
the first few years of its life.  Baldwins still tend to be a bit of a =
struggle, but the bushings have very little to do with setting the pin =
and the string.  Steinways and probably some other brands don't have =
them, either, but its wanting to spring back is due more to never having =
been stabilized at pitch.  --David Nereson, RPT, Denver 
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