Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum What are some of your favorite things about tuning?

One of the best things I love about tuning is that usually my first appointment is schedule at 10:30 in the morning!

Because you want it to "B" 440?

I like to get up and get going! First appointment usually 9:00 AM.

My first stop is usually at 10 am, which gives me time to arrive 6 am at the University and tune a couple of pianos before students arrive, then I go home, take a shower, and begin my day.

Nope, it's Bb 440.

I'll give a couple of hints. The Bb-440 piano was raised to A-440, but now is back to Bb-440. The other piano is used with instruments and is maintained at A-440.

Perhaps because the pianos get played at the same times regularly and having them tuned like that they don't cause each player accoustic interference so badly?

Maybe I'm missing something. If you lowered it 200 cents, didn't you lower it one whole-step? Or, maybe I'm missing the joke?

No, but that is a cool thought!

Ugh, I wasn't firing on all cylinders yesterday...

Yes, it was tuned to B-440, which also means when playing C on the piano, it is Bb concert pitch, turning the piano into a Bb instrument like a trumpet or clarinet. Hence my blunder. But that is not why it was tuned that way.

I'll post the reason given later today if no one has guessed it. It makes perfect sense only from "the other side of the fence."

So why lower the pitch of a piano back down 200 cents? So guests could again sing to it easier.

This explanation makes no sense to me at all.
First, I don't think pianos are made to have that much alteration in tension and stress, particularly when it goes up and down --
But, more important, a competent pianist will be able to _transpose_ the music, playing, say, in F major when the musical work is written in G major. To me, that is an expected skill for anyone who shows up as an accompanist (even soloists sometimes need to sing in a lower key).
I think your customers are fortunate to have you rather than me as their tech, but I do worry about the long-term health of their piano.
Disclaimer: I can transpose. Not a big deal.

Or you need a Heintzman Transposing Piano!

Paul.

Hi, Paul --
Wild guess: a mechanism changes which key pushes which hammer? So the string tension is not affected?

Did you see the Jiffy Key leads at each end of the piano to prevent the keys that are not under a dowel from dropping?

I have to smile.

See, the owner can transpose, playing by ear only, but the guests that play cannot. As far as long term damage to the piano, it's a Hallet Davis spinet with more and more hammer felts needing to be glued and wired to the moldings. I have brought up the pitch on many old pianos as much as 300 cents and usually find that the strings have more elasticity than you would otherwise expect. I don't think it harms the piano.

I will say it was difficult to tune. I guess the lower tension increased the inharmonicity, amplifying any scaling jumps. Also the tone was muddy, not to mention the false beats from the bends at the upper termination now being in the speaking portion. At least I think that is a factor.

Interestingly in Bach's job the organ was tuned a semitone up from A=440 and the instruments (most of them) a semitone down from A=440. So the organist had to transpose, but occasionally Bach wrote it out transposed. The "Bach organ" in Bach's former church in Leipzig which was completed around 2000 (tuned a semitone above a=440) has a lever to transpose down a whole tone.

Tuning down a whole tone from A=440 is the pitch used in 18th century France.

Kees

My Favorite thing?

The mini-recital I always play at the end of the tuning!

I always play freshly tuned pianos! Haha!

My favorite thing is the improvement in sound,the delight the client experiences,and a future appointment is made. Sometimes they ask for a business card.