has anyone ever tried this?

[David Ilvedson]

Use to be American made Yamahas....;-[

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Gary Fluke" <gary.fluke at verizon.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 11/8/2007 4:24:29 PM
Subject: Re: has anyone ever tried this?


>Michael,

>I sold Kawais along with thirteen other piano brands (lots of them Aeolian) 
>at a large store in the late seventies.  They would come all the way from 
>Japan and usually be in an amazingly decent state of tune, especially 
>considering the trip by sea.  They put the American and Korean pianos to 
>absolute shame when it came to quality of construction, preparation and 
>tuning stability.  Having said that, my very limited experience with 
>American made Yamahas has been good so far.


>Gary Fluke
>Snohomish, WA

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Michael Magness" <IFixPianos at yahoo.com>
>To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 6:59 AM
>Subject: Re: has anyone ever tried this?


>> On Nov 8, 2007 7:35 AM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Good info....thanks.
>>> >
>>> > Brian P. Doepke, (dep-kee)
>>>
>>> Sure. I spent a whole lot of hours over the years trying to
>>> find information on long term creep, or stretch, of steel
>>> under moderate load at room temperature, and that's all I've
>>> found. Apparently, it's so inconsequential as to be not worth
>>> mention in the references.
>>> Ron N
>>>
>> The "stabilization of a new piano is possible to some extent,
>> referring back to an earlier post of mine (that I would rather
>> forget)regarding seating of strings, which I am not bringing up again
>> or advocating at this time. I mentioned a friend and mentor of mine
>> had seen film of the stringing department at a Japanese factory. In
>> that film they carefully, using a brass drift and small hammer "set"
>> all of the bends at hitch and bridge pulled the wire up at the
>> agraffes or capo set the coils with coil setters. He being a rebuilder
>> adopted this practice and found he had less "chipping" to do and the
>> pianos stabilized faster.
>>
>> I have been on the receiving end of this Japanese manufacturing
>> treatment. When I first began tuning for a Kawai dealer over 25 years
>> ago the entire line was made in Hamamatsu, Japan. The pianos would
>> arrive boxed, on a skid wrapped in a heavy plastic wrap, no not
>> wrapped, sealed and when opened and removed from the skid and the
>> action was untied  the piano would be in tune with itself, usually
>> about 25c sharp! It wasn't perfectly in tune, there were rough unisons
>> here and there but for the most part it was, decently, by octaves, in
>> tune. Within a week to ten days it would go out of tune depending on
>> time of year, summer/fall took a little longer. These were verticals
>> for the most part with the occasional grand.
>> My belief was that all of the pianos strung there received the
>> treatment described above and after the chipping and rough tuning were
>> fine tuned that 25c sharp to allow for stretch while they were
>> warehoused. They were then sealed in the plastic which also sealed the
>> humid air of the Japanese islands in with the piano allowing it to
>> remain sharp until opened.
>> I would "floor tune" them until sold and found that although they
>> needed the requisete 3 or 4 tunings in the first year it wasn't nearly
>> as much as the american brands I had been used to. When I returned to
>> tune them after 3 months they weren't all THAT out of tune compared to
>> Baldwins, Wurlies, Kimballs etc.
>>
>> Mike
>> -- 
>> Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking
>> both directions anyway.
>> Michael Magness
>> Magness Piano Service
>> 608-786-4404
>> www.IFixPianos.com
>> email mike at ifixpianos.com
>>