A sweet old lady

[Dave Nereson]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Piannaman@aol.com=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 10:25 PM
  Subject: A sweet old lady


  I just got through tuning my first square grand, an 1873 Steinway.  =
Special thanks to Jon Page, Paul Chick, and Joe Garrett for good =
information.  =20

  All in all, it was nowhere near the pain I thought it was going to be. =
 I suppose many years as a bike racer has gotten me used to bending over =
in such an ungainly way that it didn't phase me too much.  =20

  I had my oval-tipped hammer in hand ready to do battle with the beast, =
but when I opened the lid, I was almost disappointed to see square =
headed tuning pins!  Question:  could these be original?  And much to my =
chagrin, somebody had written the letters of all of the naturals on the =
plate next to the pins.  It did make my job a bit easier, I must admit, =
but I unnecessary and desctructive.=20

  The hammers looked as if they had been replaced not so long ago, and =
they had a nice sound.  I proceeded with Jon's recommendation of a =
Broadwood Best temperament(per Tunelab Pocket) and set the pitch at A =
435.  I hope this was the right thing to do, because when I arrived, it =
was between there and 440. The previous tuner had tuned it in ET at 440. =
 =20

  The pins had been doped, but they didn't seem too spongy, though quite =
a few of them were springy and hard to set.  Got up to A7(the last note =
on the keyboard) and the hammer didn't hit the string.  Great!  An =
opportunity to remove the action.  It was a very simple process, and =
next thing I knew, I was examining a very simple, ingenious and =
beautifully made device.  At first I thought that the jack had broken =
off, but it had merely flopped forward.  I flopped it back.  =20

  Put the action back in, finished tuning, put the dampers back on.  =
When I played the tone was incredibly rich and sweet, the pitch and =
temperament made the piano sing!  The owners were thrilled, and so was =
I. It was a worthwhile 2 1/2 plus hours, and--I never thought I'd say =
this--I look forward to my next encounter with a square!=20

  Dave Stahl=20

      I'd say you were lucky.  Many of them are so decrepit, they're not =
worth working on.  Removing the action is often opening a large can of =
worms.  Same with removing the damper system.  But not always.  Most of =
them have a lighter, smaller, less robust tone than modern pianos, which =
can be a disappointment for some owners. =20

  Some squares, depending when they were built, do have square-tipped =
tuning pins.  Some also had the letter names of the strings written or =
stamped on the plate at the factory, as a convenience for tuners.

      --David Nereson, RPT
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