New Falcone 'false beats'

[Dave Davis]

In my area (Western Washington), 50 cents flat would be extreme if the piano were delivered to the customer at A440+. Most of the "warranty" tuned pianos that I see, the dealers suggest the tuning occur within 90 days. If your tuning had occured within 90 days, and was 50 cents flat, it might be cause to charge the dealer for a pitch raise. After 9 months, some sort of pitch raise is inevitable on a new piano.

During the warranty tune is a great time to educate customers about what manufacturers recommend for tuning. Have a supply of the PTG brochures, especially the How often should I tune my piano. Almost every new piano customer asks me that question.

As to the Petrof, I find them a pleasure to tune, especially the IV and III.

There is quite a lot of false beat info to chew in the archives. Take a few hours and sift through it. :-)

Best wishes,
Dave Davis, RPT


----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Morgan <rsanbornmorgan at yahoo.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 4:52:52 AM
Subject: New Falcone 'false beats'


Tuned a Falcone grand yesterday, its warranty tuning 9 months (count 'em) after taking delivery.  The store will pay for the tuning, but not the pitch raise necessitated by its being almost 50c flat.  The owners swore that the selling agent (a satellite store run by a very conscientious teacher/pianist) told them to tune it within six months.  I'm sure they are mixing up their memories of what was really said, which probably involved tuning frequency.
 
Two questions from this newbie:
Is this kind of pitch drop common? I'd assume it's not usual but not uncommon.  Of course, I don't know what the pitch level was when it was delivered or when it left the store.
There were some minor false beats in the upper treble that, thankfully, were light enough that they did not present much of a problem tuning.  Is this an indication that the piano needs some string seating?  Don't know how much dealer prep was done, since it was delivered from the 'mother store'.
I've scheduled a return visit already for the end of May, at which time I'll be curious to see if/how much it has dropped, and I'll be able to do some string seating then.
 
BTW, it was much easier to tune than the also-new Petrof IV that I did last month.
 
Regards,
Richard Morgan
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