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Mark

That's awful. Have you any idea what brought it on? Let's hope the network will help.

I've been having a run on 200+ cent pitch raises. Ever hear a Whitney spinet from the 60s that has never been tuned?

Speaking of spinets built by Kimball…

Tuned a Kimball spinet with a different scaling than I remember seeing before. Although the break was at E3-F3 as usual instead of the usual two wound bichords followed by unwound trichords, this one had six wound bichords followed by 4 unwound bichords. The lowest unwound trichord was D#4! And the tone was better than any spinet, or most consoles and many studios, that I remember. There wasn’t that nauseous, nasally, tubby tone in the temperament. It was actually acceptable. The volume wasn’t great, but for a single room it was fine. The bass was decent, too. I was able to find the “best place” rather than the “least bad place.” But then, of course, there were all the false beats in the treble, sigh.

Oh, it only needed a 100 cent, one pass PR, so it must have been tuned before.

Ian,

I have some idea of possible triggers. I suspect a slight high frequency hearing loss (I'm talking above 10 kHz, which audiologists don't measure), and I had several severe stress factors earlier this year, plus possible inflammation of the jawbone joint (which I'm having checked out next week). But who can really tell? One fine day, your world just collapses. After intense reading and discussions, I can tell you that tinnitus and hyperacusis are still pretty poorly understood, and there are lots of crackpot "remedies" out there...

Even moderate piano playing is unpleasant, as the sound is too percussive. So much for taking up piano technology... And I've quit the brass band weeks ago.

I'll possibly go for TRT (tinnitus retraining therapy), depending on the outcome of the jaw-joint examination. But if you see less and less of me on the forums, you'll know why...

Ironically, I've recently had TWO requests for tuning, one of them including action work. Go figure... You make plans, and then, life happens.

Mark:

Really sorry to hear about this. I was hoping your earlier post was a joke.

Monday I had a panicked call from someone at a venue that I tune at that someone had pushed their Bechstein concert grand into the wall, and it was damaged, and that they wanted other work done. On my way there yesterday, I recalled that the Bechstein had skids screwed on the side, so I could not imagine that there was much damage to it. Sure enough, there was a nasty hole in the wall, and a corresponding white plaster mark on the skid, but it was really no worse than you would expect on any 100 year old piano. I prescribe that wonder elixir, black shoe dye.

So I am actually more concerned about the wall. The building is an architectural masterpiece, and I hate to see it damaged.

Roadwork for the last two weeks and going back out tomorrow.

Can’t comprehend why many people get in their cars and create the havoc they do out there. So I have been thinking about a few new bumper stickers to be made;

“Forget about World Peace. Visualize using your turn signal.”

And for the seemingly endless highway expansion project going on here at the moment this one is a takeoff on Star Trek;

“Boldly going nowhere.”

Not sure where this one came from;

"Money isn’t everything but it sure keeps the kids in touch."

Tuned 9 on Tuesday, 11 Wednesday, 4 this morning, drove 400 miles, two nights in motels...........

Now off to the U to tune a D and a B for a concert

HO HO HO!

Day of rest tomorrow.....just one unknown piano in a home, and another D........

You go Bob!!! What are you getting me for Christmas this year with all of that extra $$$$$$$$$???? HUH??

May haps I'll make it up there this summer, Jerry! Too cold now to go . I ended up attending the Concerto Competition after tuning the B and D for it - I like hearing the students play and seeing them get better with time. I knew one of the judges from UF Gainesville as well. Good to see him again.

That's be great Bob! Love to have you up for a visit. Pick a week when we're going to be at the cottage and we'll have some fun!

Removed the action from the upright clunker in my wife's teaching studio and brought it home, then started my first hammer filing job by bringing the worst candidates back into basic shape. They're probably a bit too rounded now, because they were really deeply grooved, but I'll see to the final shaping later.

And enjoyed a largely tinnitus-free day, the second one this week, hooray.

8 tunings. First a Yamaha GH-1 in a customer's house, followed by 7 at a college. 5 more today and that college will be done.

You go, Loren. I love those College tunings - Long days and evenings till X mas yeee ha!

Done! And now an actual weekend reprieve until Monday.

Not me, but only 2 tunings Sat morning, then a photo shoot of two concerts 2pm and 7pm. Then to the U early on Sunday for probably 6 pianos..maybe 8. Not many days off for me in December.

Today I had some old fashioned fun. I inherited my grand dads 1958 Chevy pkup many years ago. I recently brought it out of retirement so my kids could ride in it. Rust and all.

This evening I put the old beast in our towns Christmas parade and cut some white poster board to make it look like the eyes of Mater from the Disney Movie "Cars".

Out of 55 entries it got 2nd place. One daughter was an elf, the other a hillbilly. They are 10 and 12 years of age.

We have had more fun in this old truck, and every where I go it gets called "Mater". And yes, it is old and it is ugly. But a lot of fun to get the girls out driving in my grand dads old truck.

Okay, I'll hush now. Next week.... back to tuning again.

I wasn't aware that they could be tuned...[b][/b]....

I tuned a Young Chang that I last tuned over 4 years ago. The treble was out of tune.

Tuned a U1 this morning. Last tuning was 1981. It was a tiny bit low in pitch; a full tone in the bass, temperament section almost on the money, treble side low in top octave. That’ll twist up the bridge work and board a bit.