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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082
2000 Post Club Member
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082 |
Open face pin block provides better visual and access for service when needed. Tuning problems sometimes suggested in relation to these are more imagined than real, I think.
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,667
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,667 |
Epoxied the split bridge on my wife's kindergarten teaching piano.
Autodidact interested in piano technology. 1970 44" Ibach, daily music maker. 1977 "Ortega" 8' + 8' harpsichord (Rainer Schütze, Heidelberg)
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,983
3000 Post Club Member
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3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,983 |
I tuned a Kawai studio which I hadn't tuned in five years to the week. Yes, it really needed tuning. However, in my notes I saw that five years ago I had done a significant aural pitch raise of 40 cents, to A 441. I was pleased to find it had not dropped below 440 since then.
JG
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,667
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 2,667 |
I cleaned and tuned a 1937 Ed. Seiler upright for acquaintances. Immaculate ivories, and generally very well-kept - but extremely dusty, honky-tonky and mostly 80-100 cents below pitch. It's a family heirloom from the husband's dad; he doesn't play, but the wife wants to start playing again. Fortunately the pinblock took the tuning well, no broken strings, and once I got through: what a beautiful sounding instrument... played a bit of modest Bach and Chopin for them, and they were visibly moved.
Autodidact interested in piano technology. 1970 44" Ibach, daily music maker. 1977 "Ortega" 8' + 8' harpsichord (Rainer Schütze, Heidelberg)
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562 |
I tuned an Indonesian Kawai GM-10 baby grand today. I've never seen a grand with a capo/bearing bar all the way across the scale before; no agraffes at all. I found it to be quite jumpy from the mid-treble all the way down.
Anyone else tune one of these before?
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728 |
Apart from pitch adjusting and tuning a couple of pianos today and epoxying on a new bass bridge I made back onto it's apron, I watched a very interesting youtube video with Larry Pratt and Piers Morgan.
Mark Piano tuner technician
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,028
4000 Post Club Member
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4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,028 |
Here's every tuner's good morning wake up call. First call of the morning, 8 AM at a Catholic High School to tune a Kawai RX-2 Grand in the Choir room. I knew where the choir room is but the doors I usually entered were locked. There were words stenciled on the door that said all visitors must enter through the Main Entrance and sign in at the office. That has become the usual procedure now with all of the incidents of violence of one sort or another these days.
So, I got back in my car and drove around to the front of the huge and sprawling structure. There were some "Visitor's" spaces but they were all full so I parked in the one space left that was marked, "Employees Only". There were long steps up to two large, wooden doors but they were locked as well. Finally, with heavy bag on my shoulder as well as vacuum cleaner that I always have for any grand piano, I found a side door that was marked, "Main Entrance". I had to press a button and wait for a response as a camera eye observed me.
After a minute or two, a voice said, "May I help you?" and I announced that I was there to tune the piano in the Choir Room. I was expected, so the door unlocked with a click as I was told also to come to the Main Office. That was not exactly clear where it was but I found it after traipsing around for a few minutes.
I signed in, already now 15 minutes past my appointed time. I had to wait for a custodian to come with keys to let me in the door to the Choir room. He lead me down corridors and several stair cases past the doors I used to come through to reach the Choir room. The door had a handle lock and a dead bolt, so he locked only the handle and said I was to report back to the office when I was finished so that he would get a call to lock the dead bolt also when I was finished.
I immediately saw that the former Fazer Studio pianos they used to have had been replaced with Yamaha Clavinovas because the the Fazers never stayed in tune more than a month at best, going wildly sharp in Summer and the same amount flat in Winter every year, year after year. The teachers had always thought they did not stay in tune because they were "cheap" pianos. But the choir room is in the lowest level of the building across the hall from the swimming pool. That meant extremely high humidity in Summer but very low humidity in Winter, year after year, every year.
However, on the far side of the room sat a grand piano with a canvas cover on it and I saw that it had a humidity control system, was plugged in and the light panel only showed green. I removed the canvas cover but found out immediately that the piano was locked! I looked in the bench but found no key. Thinking that it would only consume more time t call the main office and even more time to produce the key, I used my flange spacing tool to jimmy the lock open as i had learned long ago how to do in only seconds.
The piano had a string cover and was immaculately clean with all hammers appearing straight across and above the individual rebound pads. The piano looked brand new, so I thought with all of what I went through to get to it, it would now turn out to be an easy job.
I put in my strip mutes and then sounded the A3 key for pitch. The lights on my Sanderson Accu-Tuner IV spun very fast and the note indicator shifted to G#3. I measured A3 at -67.5! A3 turned out to be about the sharpest note on the whole piano!
I performed one massive pitch raise tuning on the piano which had very tight tuning pins (but not jumpy or squeaky). By the time I was finished with one massive pitch raisei, only had about 40 minutes until my next appointment to tune three pianos at a Chinese Christian church.
That appointment had already been rescheduled to overtime having been spent the week before on a piano that had loose butt plates and center pins walking out sideways. So, I needed to be on time for my next appointment because people would be waiting for me at the Chinese church to unlock their door too because it was in a neighborhood where people would wander in through any unlocked door if they got the chance.
I packed up, went the main office and said I would have to come back again at the end of the day to finish tuning the piano. I went to the Chinese church after grabbing a bite to eat. I was right on time and I greeted the man and lady who were waiting for me in their language. I was welcomed as I had been tuning their pianos for many years and they recognized me. Those pianos including nice Kawai RX-6, a Wurlitzer Console and a Yamaha P-22 Studio went without incident.
I returned to the Catholic High School, the door to the main office was locked so I pressed the button twice but there was no answer. I called the contact number that I had been given but only a voice message replied. As, I was trying to leave a message, a custodian happened by and let me in. I went again to the main office and the lady was still there and she apologized for not answering either the door or her phone because she had been "busy". She asked the custodian to escort me again to the Choir Room.
When the custodian tried the door, it was found to be unlocked! He let me in and turned on the lights. I went to the piano with cover on(as I had left it) but found it again to be locked! I jimmied the lock open again. I put in my muting strips and found that my Pitch Raise calculation had been good. The piano only needed one slight pitch correction and a fine tuning.
I got home after that with two hours remaining before music rehearsal. I made a light dinner, then went to the rehearsal. I was asked to stay when it was over to rehearse a number for which only certain people had been invited.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 31
Full Member
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Full Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 31 |
when you elevated the tone of the piano, Your elevated the tone to 440hz? Regards
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728 |
Tuned a 51", 1907, German upright piano. Lovely to tune. Tuned the low bass with slightly narrow 10:5 octaves, slightly wide 6:3 octaves in the high bass, 4:1 double octaves throughout the middle, treble and high treble. I also watched the following video, http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/health-expert-obama-ignoring-laws-may-lead-to-overthrow-of-govt/
Mark Piano tuner technician
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 12
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 12 |
Tuned four uprights and one grand. Don't normally do more than three a day, but tis the season for tuning right before Christmas. It's been a very busy quarter and I'm looking forward to some time off with my family.
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 535
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 535 |
Oh goody! I was just thinking that this forum wasn't contentious enough. Ugh.
Adam Schulte-Bukowinski, RPT Piano Technician, University of Nebraska-Lincoln ASB Piano Service
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 728 |
Adam, it is unfortunate, but a reality, we live in a contentious filled world.
A part of the problem, in contention, is the unreasonable and implacable.
There is obviously more to it than that, but for the sake of not being contentious, I will leave it at that.
Regards,
Mark Piano tuner technician
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
Today I got my new MacBook Air. The old MacBook Pro still worked, but some of the mechanical parts were wearing out. The solid state drive makes a big difference!
Semipro Tech
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,263
4000 Post Club Member
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4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,263 |
Been doing year end all week. Closing out the books for 2013, P&L, depreciation on vehicles and tools, counting all of the parts, supplies, instruments, and then opening figures for 2014. Office work is not my favorite activity.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 32,060 |
Today is an estimated tax day in the US. I got mine in yesterday, though. I also got a notice about sales tax, which is due at the end of the month.
I cannot do my income taxes until I get my brokerage statement, which is usually not final until some time in March.
Semipro Tech
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,028
4000 Post Club Member
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4000 Post Club Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,028 |
I wrote my 3000th post! It took 12 years to get this far!
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082 |
I wrote my 3000th post! It took 12 years to get this far!
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 824
500 Post Club Member
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500 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 824 |
Then make them shorter Bill then it wouldn't take so long
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562
2000 Post Club Member
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2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,562 |
In think I worked on the most expensive piano I've serviced to date. A Heinrich Steinway 200th anniversary art case L in rosewood. Hardly played. It was only about 10 cents flat, but the action is a little stiff from disuse. Roger Williams and Henry Z. signed it: [img] https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t31/1890640_635835573136430_788142614_o.jpg I was a little shocked to see this lack of QC. Kind of blatant, IMO: The owners are huge patrons at the SDO; they contribute in the millions. It turns out the opera office has been referring people to me for work over the tech who is contracted to tune *their* pianos.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,983
3000 Post Club Member
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3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,983 |
Oops, a little bit of over-spray. Oh, well... I had no idea Steinway would first instal the dampers, then spray the plate. Had they built this special anniversary series of piano closer to Heinrich E Steinway's birthplace, say in Hamburg, you can rest assured you would not find this kind of thing.
JG
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
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Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
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