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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=cgpiano@humboldt1.com =
href="mailto:cgpiano@humboldt1.com">Carman
Gentile</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 05, 2003 2:04 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> "training" pianos? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>see bottom:</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><I>...The client told me that thier piano didn't stay in tune for =
very long
and that the previous tuner had told her that it was probably because =
she didn't
have it tuned regularly when she first got it. (This piano had not been =
tuned
for over a year after they first got it.) Their tuner said that it =
hadn't been
"trained" properly, and it would never hold a tune very well...
<BR></I>=======================
====================<BR> <BR=
> My
own experience is that the more regularly a piano is tuned, the more =
stable the
tuning remains between service appointments. It is as though the
instrument has <U>formed</U> it's tuning the same way a pair of shoes =
forms to
our feet. How this happens exactly, I do not know but we do know =
that
there are tremendous forces occurring within a piano, even when it is at =
rest. The tension of the strings against the bridges and =
soundboard, the
forces between the soundboard edges and case rim, and the influences of =
changes
in temperature and humidity all combine (somehow) to affect the piano's =
anatomy
and physiology. It seems to me that when we add our own influence to the =
string
tensions when tuning, this has the effect of "training" or molding the
instrument to stabilize more readily to its correct tuning. I have =
not
found the right choice of words to use to explain this to my clients.
<BR><BR> I have used the analogy that a neglected piano is =
like an
ill-mannered child with a strong will. It takes <U>repeated</U> =
corrective
measures to get it to stay on the right path. <BR> May =
I
suggest that the above tuner's explanation may not have been too much =
B.S. after
all, but just his own effort to illustrate the necessity of regular
tunings.<BR><BR>Carman Gentile RPT<BR>Redwood Chapter </DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
<HR>
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello Carman</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There's another aspect to this as well: =
A piano
reacts best to being tuned by ONE tuner. Another tuner stepping in there =
CAN
destabilise a piano by the way he/she tunes. Yes? :-)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Michael G =
(UK</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>