[pianotech] Tuning Fail

Mark Potter bases-loaded76 at sbcglobal.net
Sun Jun 13 08:49:44 MDT 2010


From: Floyd Gadd <fg at floydgadd.com>

 "The unisons agree with each other, but whole ranges of notes simply will not stay where I put them, even after multiple passes.  I was unable to diagnose the problem.  What am I missing?"

Floyd -
While I thankfully have never encountered a piano *quite* this unruly, I would not tend to think string rendering would be a leading cause for this problem when the unisons are going north AND south as a group.  Seems unlikely whole ranges of notes would do the same thing.  My first inclination would be to make certain you aren't dealing with a plate that needs most, if not all, of the plate screws snugged down, since you have ruled out a cracked plate.

If it really is a rendering issue, on the worst offenders where no amount of pin control yields success I have had *some* luck manipulating the strings into tune by massaging the speaking length an inch or so from the termination (V bar) with light to moderate pressure.  Get the strings a tad sharp and coax it down by massaging it - it is actually easier/quicker than it sounds.  Sometimes ya just gotta try whatever, knowing it is likely not going to yield lasting results on a wild buck like this.  By definition, you can't tune an untunable piano.

Mark Potter    
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