Philadelphia piano builder featured on The Science Channel!

ca. 1930s outdoor piano recital.

Dr. Giroir, standing center.

Dr. Giroir, standing left, presents award.

My piano teacher, Dr. Marcelline Giroir "conducts" an outdoor piano recital, ca.1930s.

The Power of Music: David Itkin

George Gershwin's 1933 Model A Steinway sat unused since his untimely death in 1938, but now...

Larry Fine annouces Fall 2014 Piano Buying Guide now available!

The Definitive Piano Buying Guide for

Buying New, Used, and Restored Acoustic Pianos and Digital Pianos

A piano is one of the most expensive purchases a household will ever make, and buying a piano can be difficult, confusing, and time consuming. Piano Buyer is a free, 280-page, semiannual piano buying guide that will help you make a fast informed decision concerning the purchase of a piano or digital piano.

Editorially independent of any manufacturer or dealer.

Piano Buying Guide 

Get into the Piano Tuning Business!

Vintage ad ca1920

Vintage photo: What's the "tech" doing?

Lester piano. Real or fake?

Every piano tech's nightmare can be avoided.

Newspaper Music Review

“Pianist _______ blew out the room

 -- and some of the lower pitches on the piano, 

unfortunately -- in an awe-inspiring performance 

with the orchestra of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2… “
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Every piano tech's nightmare. It can be avoided.

Yikes - The Piano Tuner is coming!

A number of months ago I posted this and thought it might be helpful to do so again. We are always welcoming members who are new to piano ownership. These are a few considerations to help ensure that you receive a first-rate tuning.

Before Arrival:

• When scheduling your appointment, remember to mention any mechanical problems such as sticky keys, squeaks, and minor adjustments so that extra time can be scheduled.
  
  
• Make sure that the lawn/snow crew or carpenters are not scheduled at the same time. All Tuners Need Quiet!
  
  
• Clear all objects from the top or lid of the piano. Family Photos - Plants - Candles - Grandma's Ashes - Everything!
  
  
• Make sure that there is adequate lighting. Remember, you will have already removed any piano lamps that either clip on, or are placed on any surface of the piano. This includes the music desk of a grand as it needs to be removed for tuning. Provide a free standing floor lamp if necessary.
  
  
• Dust the piano! Clean the keys!
  

Upon Arrival:

• Always treat your tuner with a cordial and mannered disposition. He/She is a professional and should be treated as such.
  
  
• Escort your tuner to the piano, offer a beverage, and make them aware of the closest facilities.
  
  
• Politely excuse yourself and let your tuner do the tuning in private and without interference. Exceptions may be accommodated by your tuner. Ask first - Don't assume.
  
  
• Keep Quiet. This is not the time to do the dishes, run the laundry, blast the TV or stereo, or mow the lawn.
  
  
• Corral the kids. A tuner is not a babysitter or an amusement for your children. The same concept applies to pets.
  
  
• Sometimes sounds we are accustomed to can be distracting to a tuner. The chiming and ticking grandfather clock or a noisy bird can affect the outcome of your tuning.

After Tuning:

• Check the tuning by playing music you have memorized and are comfortable playing. Extended scales, of various types, serve the same purpose. Now is the time to listen to the tuning, not your performance. If you are not a pianist, it is best to assume that the tuning is fine.
  
  
• If your tuner plays the piano, there is nothing wrong with asking him/her to do a little playing so you can stand back and listen to the tuning. It is not a recital for your enjoyment. It is for you to listen to the accuracy of the tuning.
  
  
• If you notice any problems with unisons or intervals, now is the time to have them corrected. It is your responsibility to evaluate the tuning, at the time of service, to give your approval or ask for corrections.
  
  
• When you are satisfied, pay for the service, and conclude the session.

Optional:

• Tip for the service. I always do, but many do not.
  
  
• Provide a snack or cookies. Hey, we're all human!
  
  
• Have a TV-table(s) available for the tuner's tool kit and/or beverages and munchies.
  
  
• Get to know your tuner. There is nothing wrong with being sociable.

For many of us, we know the routine. However, we always have many newcomers in the forum and I offer these as a general guide.

By all means, please add your own comments and additions. These guidelines are just the basics, as I see them, and it would be great to hear your opinions.

_________________________
Marty in Minnesota in the Piano World Forum

It's much easier to bash a Steinway than it is to play one.

Quiz: Are these grand pianos the same length?

Francis Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D minor, 2nd Movement.

2004. ASO, Itkin-Cheek

Concert Prep: Bob Widding
Concert Tuning: Shayrn Sisson

Philadelphia piano rebuilders restore holocaust survivor: 1910 Bosendorfer

Cunningham Piano Company

Fazioli F228 7'6" prepped for performance

Fazioli F228 7'6"
Prepped by Bob Widding, piano technician
Tuned aurally in equal temperament

Recorded before a live audience at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall
University of Arkansas at Little Rock ca.2000

Chopin Polonaise A-flat major

From the CD
Julie Cheek Classical Favorites

Wladyslaw Szpilman's "Concertino" (Composed in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940.)

Reolon Gdansk Philharmonic Orchestra Kateryna Thereshchenko - Piano, Publisher Boosey & Hawkes New York

Bolduc's up and downweight device demonstrated on a Fazioli

Mark Cerisano offers free video to assist piano tuning students to hear and measure beats!

Mark Cerisano, RPT, B.Sc.(Mech.Eng.), Dip.Ed.(Music)

howtotunepianos

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No.5 Zilberstein · Crudele /Hamburg Steinway D

From my Harpsichord Service Archive: William Dowd

String guide for the William Dowd Concert French Double Harpsichord. Two manual, transposing.  A truly great instrument used by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

Built in Boston after a 1730s instrument by François Etienne Blanchet

ca.1984

Pianotek Supply Company demonstrates the Spurlock Hammer Shank Clamp

Pianotek Supply Company demonstrates the Spurlock Hammer Shank Clamp, a simple and fast way to gang-clamp hammer shanks securely for a number of tasks (hammer hanging, shank trimming, filing, tail shaping, voicing, etc.) that would normally put undo stress and possible damage to the action centers if not otherwise locked into position.

(Note: Pianotek sells to the trade only.)

Proper Service and Maintenance for a New Piano (1): Importance of Regular Tuning

There is more to tuning than deriving a pleasant aural benefit. When done in accordance with the responsible manufacturer's recommendations for a new instrument - frequent in-store tunings plus a minimum of four in-home tunings during the first year and twice per year thereafter - in the hands of a knowledgeable and capable piano technician the integrity of the strings is maintained.

New piano string is elastic.  When delivered to the buyer the strings are still stretching. The four in-home tunings are required for the piano to remain at pitch with two tunings per year thereafter to ensure that it stays there. Stretch slows and then becomes negligible.

Slight bends form in piano strings from sidebearing where they contact bridge pins. When the new piano is tuned frequently as mentioned above, these bends can move to the speaking segment and smooth out rather well due to this elasticity. However, if a couple of years have elapsed since the first in-home tuning and the piano has fallen substantially below pitch, the required huge pitch raise(s) will force these now less-than-elastic bends into the speaking segment of the string and create false beats -  and even cause permanent deformation or "wild strings" in extreme cases.

What may be done? The damage is not necessarily irreparable.  Neither is it always expensive to repair. Sometimes a good tech can smooth the bends and minimize or "hide" false beats.  A string may need replacing.  The cost here is modest.  Many pianists and even some piano tuners may not be bothered by false beats because they cannot hear them.  Accordingly, for these individuals there is no problem to correct.  Or so it would seem. However, depending upon the extent of the problem it could get quite expensive to remedy. Consider the following:


"When tuning has been neglected for an extended period of time, the strings in the tenor, mid-range and extreme treble have often dropped in pitch much more, in comparison with the bass strings which have also dropped in pitch. The string tension has decreased so much and unevenly, that the soundboard and bridges have warped out of shape, placing tremendous strain on wood and glue joints, risking severe damage." 

  - Guus van den Braak, Registered Piano Technician (Australasian).

“…pianos are designed to be at a specific tension. When the tension is allowed to go flat the soundboard may flatten resulting in less downbearing on the strings and an increase in the chance of wild strings, cracks in the soundboard and case and frame parts separating."
 -  Cited from the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology, Inc. by  Randy Potter, Registered Piano Technician,  chapter 1.8 pg.16.   

"If the piano has fallen substantially below pitch (i.e. from not having been tuned frequently enough), the process of pulling the strings back up to pitch often brings these little bends out into the speaking segment of the string without having had the opportunity to straighten out gradually. A competent tuner can usually remove these unwanted bends in the string, but it's additional work, and you may get charged more. Some tuners who are not so competent just leave them and hope they'll straighten out over time. And sometimes, no matter how good the tuner is or how hard he tries to remove a false beat, you're stuck with it." 
- Piano Finders®

"Can the Piano Be Damaged by Not Having it Tuned?

"To keep a piano untuned for many years could do permanent damage to the piano. The strings are under a great deal of tension and tend to loose their tension over time. If the piano is kept untuned for too long you run the risk of the total pitch of the piano dropping. To bring the piano back to standard pitch may cause, at best, the necessity for several tunings over several weeks (at a higher cost) or, at worst, string breakage, and split bridges. Not only that, but playing on a poorly tuned piano can cause a potential musician to subconsciously not enjoy playing and hence, not wish to play."
  - Carl Radford, RPT

"Distortion in sound. In rare cases major tuning work can bring bends into the speaking length of the string causing distortion in the sound. Restringing is the only solution in this case."  - Daniel Berg, RPT  excerpt from  Results from years of neglect.

"Take care of your piano by not neglecting it for extended periods of time.  Piano strings stretch over time, and if left untuned for long enough, a piano will require a major pitch raising when it is tuned again.  A major pitch raising is not good for the health of your piano; it increases the possibility of breaking some strings and/or may introduce a permanent out-of-tune sound known as 'false beating.' " - Gooch Piano Service
 

"Does Piano Tuning Neglect Harm Your Piano?

"To my knowledge, all professional piano tuners agree that neglecting regular service does harm pianos. When piano problems begin to develop, a professional piano tuner, who regularly services your piano, can help with advice and solutions. Pianos do not last forever, and those that receive regular tuning and service uphold their value better than neglected pianos.

"Even if, no one is playing your piano, the weather is playing it 24 hours a day, and it needs regular tuning.

"With over 20 tons of string pressure, manufacturers design pianos to be maintained at A440 standard pitch and when pianos drift off-pitch the curvature of the soundboard changes and the whole structure of the piano shifts. The strings in the piano produce about 18 to 22 tons of tension. The cast iron plate supports this tension, but the rest of the piano is mostly wood, which makes the piano extremely flexible.

"Everything in a piano is either made of wood, or depends on wooden parts to function.

In wet, humid conditions, the piano swells; and in dry conditions, it contracts. This bending and shifting is not productive for the health of your piano. In Physics, the piano as a whole is a ‘flexible’ structure.

"Allowing the piano to cycle through periods of neglect, or ‘hit and miss’ service, combined with changes in humidity ~ the seasonal bending and changing of the soundboard and overall structure ~ can damage the piano. Allowing it to go through such cycles of neglect, in my mind, is like bending a green twig; at some point, it is going to break."
 -  Chuck Littau Piano Services

"The false beat is one of the tuner's worst enemies. This is a beat within a single string
that you can't eliminate by tuning. A string with a false beat sounds like two
strings that are out of tune with each other. False beats occur most commonly in the
upper middle register of the piano, from the treble break up to the middle of the top
octave.

"Other causes of false beats include rusty strings, kinked or twisted treble strings, and
strings that were stretched too much during stringing, pitch raising, or tuning. If you see
a kink or bend in the speaking portion of a string, try to straighten it by burnishing with
a steel rod. If this doesn't work, loosen the string and straighten it carefully with smooth
pliers. If it still sounds bad, replace it."  

- Piano Servicing, Tuning, and Rebuilding, 
Arthur A, Reblitz, RPT

BOB WIDDING
PIANO TECHNICIAN