<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1141" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=Piannaman@aol.com href="mailto:Piannaman@aol.com">Piannaman@aol.com</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 06, 2003 = 10:25 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> A sweet old lady</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>I just got through = tuning my first square grand, an 1873 Steinway.  Special thanks to Jon = Page, Paul Chick, and Joe Garrett for good information.   <BR><BR>All in = all, it was nowhere near the pain I thought it was going to be.  I suppose = many years as a bike racer has gotten me used to bending over in such an ungainly = way that it didn't phase me too much.   <BR><BR>I had my oval-tipped = hammer in hand ready to do battle with the beast, but when I opened the lid, = I was almost disappointed to see square headed tuning pins!  Question:  could these be original?  And much to my chagrin, somebody = had written the letters of all of the naturals on the plate next to the = pins.  It did make my job a bit easier, I must admit, but I unnecessary = and desctructive. <BR><BR>The hammers looked as if they had been replaced = not so long ago, and they had a nice sound.  I proceeded with Jon's recommendation of a Broadwood Best temperament(per Tunelab Pocket) and = set the pitch at A 435.  I hope this was the right thing to do, because = when I arrived, it was between there and 440. The previous tuner had tuned it = in ET at 440.   <BR><BR>The pins had been doped, but they didn't seem = too spongy, though quite a few of them were springy and hard to set. =  Got up to A7(the last note on the keyboard) and the hammer didn't hit the = string.  Great!  An opportunity to remove the action.  It was a = very simple process, and next thing I knew, I was examining a very simple, ingenious and beautifully made device.  At first I thought that = the jack had broken off, but it had merely flopped forward.  I flopped it = back.   <BR><BR>Put the action back in, finished tuning, put the = dampers back on.  When I played the tone was incredibly rich and sweet, the = pitch and temperament made the piano sing!  The owners were thrilled, and = so was I. It was a worthwhile 2 1/2 plus hours, and--I never thought I'd say = this--I look forward to my next encounter with a square! <BR><BR>Dave = Stahl</FONT> </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>    I'd say you were lucky.  Many of them are = so decrepit, they're not worth working on.  Removing the action is = often opening a large can of worms.  Same with removing the damper system.  But not always.  Most of them have a lighter, = smaller, less robust tone than modern pianos, which can be a disappointment for some = owners.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Some squares, depending when they were built, do have = square-tipped tuning pins.  Some also had the letter names of the strings = written or stamped on the plate at the factory, as a convenience for = tuners.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>    --David Nereson, = RPT</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>