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<DIV>Chris:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I never had a customer like this, but it happened to a colleague of =
mine
during his apprenticeship years ago in Northern Ireland. The =
client hadn't
had a tuning in many years, and the day after his tuning, his company =
received a
complaint. Seems the piano (Steinway grand) had lost its =
"voice."
His mentor accompanied him back to the client, listened to her =
complaint, and
asked for 15 minutes to correct the problem, which he did by knocking 2 =
strings
of every unison out of tune with his tuning hammer (the original tuning, =
by the
way, was perfect). The client, of course, loved the result.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In your case, you might think about pressuring 2 out of 3 strings =
of each
unison with a mute, just enough to put them slightly out of phase. =
Removing the action will make this easier in your case. If this is =
not
sufficient, use the tuning hammer. In my opinion, a client's =
satisfaction
overrides any consideration we as technicians may have about what =
constitutes a
"proper" tuning. We get to do our work and leave, while they must =
live
with and play what we've left behind. If this client likes your =
response
to her requirements, you'll know what to do next time (and have a great =
story to
share at conventions) !</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>David Nadworny, RPT</DIV>
<DIV>Medford, MA</DIV>
<DIV><A =
href="mailto:nadlane@earthlink.com">nadlane@earthlink.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 03:01:48 EDT<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:ChrisRis@AOL.COM">ChrisRis@AOL.COM</A><BR>Subject: Piano
'detuning'<BR>You wrote:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Greetings,<BR><BR>I have a dingbat of a customer with a Steinway =
upright
from the teens who <BR>claims to be a 'wizard of interpretation' and to =
play the
'tone' of the <BR>piano, 'unlike most professionals'. She hasn't =
tuned her
piano in 12 years <BR>and the action was so frozen and out of regulation =
that it
was impossible. <BR>Did the usual, file the hammers, adjust let =
off and
blow, protek the action, <BR>teflon the butt leathers, voila, plays =
great.
Unfortuneatley, it's no longer <BR>the piano she loved. It seems =
it has
lost it's unique voice that she <BR>preferred over any other piano she =
has
heard, the best included.<BR><BR>She mentioned today that Liszt =
'preferred' his
pianos out of tune - found <BR>them more inspiring - and it brought to =
mind a
story I heard 30 years ago <BR>about an itinerant 'toner' that followed =
along
behind the itinerant tuner. <BR>She - that's how the story goes - =
would
slightly detune 1 string of a unison, <BR>restoring the charm and =
strength of
voice of the instrument that somehow was <BR>lost in the =
tuning!<BR><BR>Has
anyone EVER heard of this??? I'm actually thinking of trying it on =
her;
<BR>she's crazy enough to love it!!!<BR><BR>Christopher =
Ris<BR><BR>PS
About 6 months ago I heard a snippet of a piano piece that was prepared =
<BR>like
this, but out of tune enough the have that 'honky tonk' =
sound.<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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