Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum My Yamaha YUS-5 went out of tune so fast

Did you mean after several hours of playing or was it just sitting for several hours?

Was there a reason why you did not ask your friend to tune it first? How did you decide that he is a very good tuner?

Ian

Did you talk to your tuner friend about this?

Greetings,
How did it go out of tune? Did all the unisons go out about the same amount,with the same strings going the same direction? this is the sign of a humidity change. Did various unisons just "fall apart" while others around them stayed in place? this is usually the tuner's shortcoming in balancing the tension outside of the speaking length?

there are many ways a piano goes "out of tune" and understanding how it does indicates where the problems may be.
Regards,

Ronald, I think there is probably nothing wrong with your piano, but I would encourage you to call Yamaha and get them to send out one of their techs. They will evaluate the piano, and if there is anything amiss, they will address it. Their technician will be a top tuner.

You say your friend is your tuner, have you considered that your objectivity about his abilities might be affected by your relationship with him? Just because he says he is good, doesn't mean he is. Maybe his tunings sound nice straight after, but he can't do stable tunings? Is he a professional tuner or an amateur?

But overall, I think your piano has probably recently come out of a crate and has had insufficient time to stabilise. Did you buy the piano you tried on the sales floor? Did you note the serial number of the one you tried at the time of purchase? You might have a different (newer) piano than what you tried. Floor models are better because they've been tuned many times and are more stable. New ones take time. You have to be patient about these things. Yamaha don't tend to make lemons that can't be tuned - they are very consistent in their quality. Good luck.

It was not a floor model, none of Yamaha dealers in Chicago at the time had a Yamaha YUS-5. Therefore, my piano was ordered directly from Yamaha in California. I am open to any tuner. I am very objective with a piano tuner, my friendship with my friend won't affect my judgement. If he is not good, I won't be asking him and paying him. He is even more expensive than any of tuners whom I had in the past. Yes, he is a professional and he takes care of concert halls in Wisconsin, he is even a tuner of Christopher Taylor (got 3rd place in Van Cliburn, many moons ago).

I am hoping that the piano will have no problem.

There's your answer, Ronald. Pianos straight out of a crate typically need 4-5 tunings before they even start to stabilise.Shop floor pianos get those tunings, that's why they're stable when you get them. I doubt there's anything wrong with yours - you just have to be patient. I'm sure you'll be very happy once you get it stabilised.

The pin block of new Yamaha had changed, unlike old day Yamaha, soft, easy to tune, nearly no pin setting needed.
I had customers with new Yamaha, paid me instead using the free tunings included in the new piano. Even the house tuner of the Yamaha agent can't get the job done if the client has a normal, not trained bad ear. The Pleyel piano, from the same dealer, has this problem too.

For the pin block of new Yamaha, its stiff like most cheap Asian piano. Hailun and Ritmuller have better pin block. Pleyel's pin block is very tight too. Unlike new Yamaha, if apply correct force, it can move slowly and smoothly. It can tune to very precise. For stability, it can hold up to half year.

For the new Yamaha, I have experience from YUS5 down to new cash cow models. The pin block is stiff, can't move it precisely. I can feel the tuning pin twisting. Its easier to obtain crispy unison by twisting tuning pin. But this technique should be avoided, even I paid a lot dollars to learn from a "tuner with half century experience". In my practice, after each pin, flip flop the the tuning hammer. In most case, it de-tuned immediately. Then tune again until get the tuning done and the tuning pin seat in its natural position. For recurring customer, need more than two hour for a tuning. Most of my job done within 1 1/2 hours with some minor fixing and regulation. Its far slower than the industry standard and the service standard of Yamaha agent in my city: its 45 minutes.