Moving from Uprights to Grands

[David Ilvedson]

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MIchael,

Did you ever try tightening the pinblock screws on that Kawai?

David I.






Original message
From: Michael Gamble 
To: Farrell , 
Received: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 16:22:29 +0100
Subject: Re: Moving from Uprights to Grands


Hello Terry and Listers
The answer to this lies in the meetings of the PTA in the UK.=
 Such things are discussed. I guess it is a rare occasion=
 otherwise for tuners to meet each other. I am lucky in this=
 respect working at Glyndebourne as I have a colleague there and=
 we.... discuss things.... like Tuning Rates, what to do about=
 that Kawai CA-4 etc. etc. etc. He's a MPTA though I am not - I=
 get a lot of my info from the List (thanks!) :-) and from=
 discussions with my colleague. The only time I have ever watched=
 a tuner in action was when I was asked by a newly qualified=
 tuner from the Furniture College, London, if I could monitor his=
 tuning and comment. He used a felt strip and I cringed - yes...=
 cringed.... as he poked the felt between the strings to lay the=
 bearings. I am very glad ears were invented :-) Incidentally=
 when he got to the top all h*ll broke loose. He - had - no -=
 idea... how to get the top strings right - and that was after a=
 three year course..... How do those postal courses work if=
 there's no-one to monitor your results? I'm baffled. Yes...=
 baffled. ;-)
Regards from a beautiful, hot, sunny day in Sussex where there's=
 a "Hosepipe Ban!" now in force. Our reservoirs are running low.
Michael G.(UK) (baffled)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Farrell 
To: Pianotech 
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: Moving from Uprights to Grands


"It has always been looked down upon in the profession here if a=
 tuner still has to use a temperament strip..."
 
What kind of an environment is it where other piano technicians=
 watch what another piano technician does during a tuning? I=
 don't think any tech has ever watched me tune a piano, and only=
 once have I watched someone else tune a piano.
 
Oh, maybe another tech saw me tune years ago when I was doing=
 some floor tunings at a dealer.
 
Terry Farrell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Byeway222@aol.com 
 
The whole business of strip muting for either the temperament=
 octave or even into the further reaches of the piano has alway=
 been controversial here in UK.  Probably like Michael I was=
 trained very traditionally, to discard the strip mute quite=
 early on and rely on one's ear for laying the temperament with=
 just two wedges.  It has always been looked down upon in the=
 profession here if a tuner still has to use a temperament strip,=
 almost suggesting that his/her ear is not reliable enough to do=
 without it.  The analogy being a baby's walking frame I suppose!=
   Because  of this early influence I can actually feel 'ashamed'=
 if I resort to using  a strip or rubber gang mute on a difficult=
 piano. Do i need psychoanalysis?  However, I could actually=
 argue pretty stongly in favour of using them with very small=
 grands and uprights where inharmonicity is so pronounced that=
 setting an acceptable temperament can take more than one pass,=
 and using this aid would be quicker.  When this topic comes=
 under discussion over here it is generally argued that the=
 temperament is not exactly the same when you return to complete=
 the unisons and that the whole excercise can be more time=
 consuming.
It would be interesting to know what proportion of tuners is=
 'mute free'
Ric


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