[pianotech] Toy piano scaling

[David Ilvedson]

Guys, 

Tuning toy pianos will ruin the sound...imho

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Ryan Sowers" <tunerryan at gmail.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 4/20/2009 5:47:50 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Toy piano scaling


>I've tuned a few toy pianos so here's my 2 cents worth...
>The best method I found to shorten the rod is to use a Dremmel with a
>cut-off wheel. Those tines are very hard - you won't get far with a file.
>The cut-off wheel allows you to cut a slice very neatly off the end of the
>rod.

>I've tried soldering to make the pitch go down but it can be difficult to
>get the solder to stick. What works really well is to make a small coil out
>of music wire that will fit snugly around the end of the tine. If it makes
>the pitch too low you can slide it up towards the base of the tine and it
>will cause the pitch to rise - kind of like tuning a Fender Rhodes.

>In fact, you can cut all the bars slightly short and add a coil to each one
>so that you can "fine" tune it by moving the coils.

>I had a client who was putting on a toy piano recital and asked me to tune 3
>of them together! It was an interesting challenge. The harmonics are pretty
>wacky. They can sound surprisingly nice when their in tune! Most of the
>"tuning" done in the factory is haphazard at best. The older ones seem to
>sound better.



>On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 2:35 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:

>> David Doremus wrote:
>>
>>> This is off the wall and off topic but I thought I'd throw it out to the
>>> mathematical among us....
>>>
>>> I have toy piano for a long time customer who wants it to work for her
>>> granddaughter, several of the tines are broken. I have a friend who is a
>>> metal worker so making new ones is possible, the question is how to
>>> calculate the proper length without simple trial and error. Is there a
>>> formula or two for calculating the pitch of a steel rod? Any advice?
>>>
>>> --Dave
>>>
>>
>> I'd start with one a tad longer than the average of the one above, and the
>> one below, and grind to finished length. You can calculate all day long and
>> will end up doing that anyway.
>> Ron N
>>
>>


>-- 
>Ryan Sowers, RPT
>Puget Sound Chapter
>Olympia, WA
>www.pianova.net