"training" pianos?

[Andrew & Rebeca Anderson]

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New piano wire stretches considerably in its first few years of 
service.  Most piano makers recommend a minimum tuning schedule of every 
three months (minimum meaning you barely play it).  I generally tell 
clients that a new or re-strung piano will need, depending on usage, tuning 
every 2-3 months in the first year, three to four in the second and then 
four to six thereafter depending on usage.  I have noted that tunings may 
be quite stable over the course of a whole year after the settling in 
period if the climate in or around the piano is kept constant (temperature 
and relative humidity).  Coming to the piano business from fine carpentry I 
have no difficulty grasping the impact a Dampp-Chaser climate control 
system has (both humidification and dehumidification, reasonable 
temperature stability follows as a result of the methodology utilized) on 
tuning stability and on the life of the wooden components of the 
piano.  The conditioning passes through the whole piano, grands in extreme 
room climates benefit from closed lids when not in use.

If this schedule has not been followed previously you will have to follow 
it later.  I've tuned a five year old Yamaha baby grand that was more than 
a whole tone low in two passes (I'm a little more cautious now-a-days) and 
it was stable even after enthusiastically playing Schubert in my Brahmsian 
manner.  Three months later it required another pitch raise.  That's the 
breaks.  Once the schedule is complete the only variables I know of are 
consistent tuning methodology, climate and usage.

Perhaps this particular technician hadn't followed a piano all the way 
through that process.

My half-pennies worth,
Andrew

At 07:08 PM 11/4/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>List
>
>I recently tuned a 3 year old Baldwin console.  The client told me that 
>thier piano didn't stay in tune for very long and that the previous tuner 
>had told her that it was probably because she didn't have it tuned 
>regularly when she first got it.  (This piano had not been tuned for over 
>a year after they first got it.)
>
>Their tuner said that it hadn't been "trained" properly, and it would 
>never hold a tune very well.
>
>Now I had never heard of this and I told her so.  The piano was certainly 
>out of tune when I first got there, but it had been about 9 months since 
>it was last tuned, so there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as I 
>could see.  The pins were Baldwin-tight.
>
>I did my best to make my tuning as stable as possible, and I'll have to 
>wait till they call for another tuning before I'll find out if there is an 
>actual problem or not.
>
>But, has anyone ever heard of such a thing?  If a piano is not tuned 
>regularly in its early life, it will never hold a tune?  I can't fathom 
>that this could be true...sounds like a line of BS.
>
>But then, what do I know? (Answer: Less and less as time goes on!)
>
>Tom Sivak

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