<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> David, I finished off the day pitch raising & tuning a Currier spinet this afternoon, remembering your post about a C grade piano. I learned that the woman was at advanced beginner level when she quit playing her childhood piano 40 years ago. She acquired it a few years back from her mother and now was toying with the idea of starting again. As I was in the grips of a virus, my faculties were partly at home in bed where the rest of me should have been, and I was thankful that RCT could handle the lion's share of the grunt work. Feeling below par as I did, though, I had no expectations of saying, “that’s the best this little guy has ever sounded.” (Maybe next tuning). Half way through the pitch raise, she got a call from an old friend who had just decided to come visiting from New York. Excitedly she tells me that the friend is a concert pianist and how fortuitous that she is now getting the piano tuned! I'd have to say this raised the bar on the tuning a notch or two - not so much the tuning itself but I managed to spend additional time looking for slow-repeating notes in the extreme octaves, voicing problems, bobbling hammers, squeaking pedals, etc., defects which probably wouldn't bother someone at a rudimentary level of playing, but might make the piano unusable to an accomplished player. I realized that normally I do try to make a so-so piano sound and play the best it can (being sensitive to the point of diminishing returns), or at least make a noticeable improvement if there are impediments (as in 50 - 100 cents flat in this case), but I am influenced by the situation to some degree. There are instances where the instruction is very clear, for example, to "just tune it to itself, no one here has perfect pitch," and then there's all the rest where it's not clear and you don't know who might be playing that piano.  As to the below, a timer is no judge of a tuning. Tom Cole David Andersen wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="midBDF8FEBD.7872%25bigda@gte.net"> <title>Re: was year end/now low end pianos</title> <blockquote>My attitude regarding the low end piano is the antithesis of a  comment I read here on the list a few years ago: "I put a timer on the piano  and when 45 minutes passes, the piano is tuned." >Mine too. Yes, it's harder  to tune that beast, but I think no one would argue the fact that we tuners  offer service to people.  Some people own Steinways.  Some people  own other pianos. </blockquote> >Case in point: I tune almost any piano within 15 minutes of my house (any farther and it’s pretty much only good grands.) Today I tuned a Wurlitzer console; it was a neighbor’s grandma’s piano, with a card from Francis Mehaffey stuck in the top (Grandma lived in Claremont, CA, where Francis lived.) Anyway, I didn't “just run through it,” but tuned it as I would tune a good grand---slowly and carefully. When it was done, and I played it, the first thing out of my mouth was “that’s the best this little guy has ever sounded.” A good, focused tuning can make a huge difference in a C grade piano.  Really. Best to all---- David Andersen </blockquote> </body> </html>