Hello there,

So I just had my new-to-me piano serviced. I got a tuning, and I had some sticky keys (or slow to return keys) My tuner/tech went across the entire keyboard to loosen up the keys (he took out each key, squeezed some notch on the bottom of the key that must rest on a rail)

Anyways, he was a very nice man, and cam from a nearby school that has a great track record with their training. He was also a RPT.

Now, here's my question. After the tuning, I now have 2 keys (G and G flat right below middle C) that now have a very dull sound to them (they didn't prior to the tune)

And another 2 keys (I think A and A#) above middle C that now have a ringing to them that didn't prior to the tune.

My question is, is it rude to ask the tuner to come back to take a look at those keys? What's a good way of going about this without sounding like a pain in the neck customer. I'm pretty new to piano (only a year old now) and my preferences haven't really matured yet, but these four keys do stick out even to my ear.

Thanks guys, talk to you soon.

You probably should ask the tuner to look at them. However, you should not assume that it will be for free. These may be separate issues from tuning.

Discuss whether there will or might be a fee with the tech beforehand.

All tuners hear this sort of thing from time to time. That it "never did it before you tuned it." Chances are, that it did but, with the tuning completed, you played it more, possibly going through it with a fine tooth comb and found these things that were always there but were not bothering you until then.... Also, with the piano tuned, things that are wrong, may stick out more now.

I would call him back and explain what you are hearing to him. It could very well be a voicing issue or something else but, I doubt it would be a tuning issue.

BDB is correct. If we find it to be something else and we usually do, (I have never had it be a tuning issue yet) there may or may not be a charge for time to fix it depending on what it is.

On a new piano (even new to you) you'll be discovering the instrument, and its little quirks and features, for a while. I'd call the tuner, and just ask him/her to return to check it out.

If you are non-accusatory, and do this with the obvious respect you've approached the subject with here, you'll stand a better chance of enjoying a free (or price-reduced) follow-up service call. But, as they said above, if its something else (and it is 99% of the time) then you'll need to be prepared to pay a service call fee.

People sometimes hear wildly out of tune unisons or pairs as being "resonant" or "loud", and when they're tuned (tamed) they are then heard as "subdued" or "quiet". If your piano does have this problem, it sounds like voicing the hammers and dampers might be in order.

Best of luck,

RPD

I just tuned a console yesterday. When I was finished I played the piano and I heard that A4 was dull and very weak compared to its neighbors.

I asked the owner if it was so before I tuned the piano and he said no.

I carefully inspected the piano and after a few moments I found that the grooves in the hammer's head did not coincide with strings. I aligned the hammer with the strings and the sound became as bright and clear as its neighbors.

Maybe, when tuning, I inadvertently pushed the hammer out of alignement. I am not sure why, but it happened.

That is why I always check the entire piano after tuning, and ask the owner to play it thoroughly, looking for something wrong. I don't like call backs, even if I am to charge them.

If something is wrong this is the right moment to fix it!

So call your tech back and find out what happens.

RPD, excuse my question being off thread:

Do you voice dampers?

I"m a bit amazed that all of you that answered this problem did not ask about the piano brand and age? For all we know he could be talking about a beat up old bird cage. I find it very common getting calls from customers about their piano when asked....what is the make...I don't know or cannot remember the brand ;-((
Bottom line is...more info given...a better answer.
Robin Stevens ARPT

Yes, hammers AND dampers can be voiced. Voicing dampers is a process of mating the felt to the strings/bichords etc, and making sure they are supple but soft enough to do their job...it is an area that is often overlookedc, especially on grand pianos (unless being prepped by a concert tech, who would tend to catch damper problems)...others can weigh in, but yes, dampers can be voiced with needles, picks, and abrasives like sandpaper and even the occasional razor blade.

Robin, I had to look again...the reason I didn't care about the make of the piano is that the OP had already had a technician to the home. The tech was (we assume) qualified to charge a fee to do work on the piano...(I trust RPT's) and so I am very comfortable that we aren't disscussing a square grand or other pre-standard piano...but, you are correct, nobody asked about the make...its probably because we all hear this type of thing, rebgardless of the make.

FWIW

RPD

RPD I hear what you are saying, but as a Australian RPT and having to make a living by tuning virtually every thing that has strings, providing that the tuning pins are tight enough. Sometimes it is borderline whether I tell the customer he wasted his money and I can't/wont tune his piano. From Enigma2118's non description of the piano rather than only the problems leads me to think that the previous tuner might have done the best he could with that piano and not be put in a situation where the customer thinks the tuner is the problem!! Having to ease the whole keyboard because of sticking notes should raise a red flag not to mention two notes "having a very dull sound"
Enigma2118...put us out of our misery....describe and name the piano!!!!

Robin

Aussie,

It appears the tuner repaired the sticking keys but that the piano may have had other issues that were there prior to tuning which is likely a part of the problem. For all we know, the tech told them about the issues and gave an estimate? I would have anyway.

Yes, I would contact the technician, of course. But, it may or may not be a freebie.

Hey everyone,

Been away from the computer for a bit. Say, it sparked a bit of a conversation! I love this forum.

Anywhoo, it is a 1981 Kimball Console in just fantastic shape. I've discovered over the past few days that the slow-to-return (I shouldn't have said "sticky") keys were most defiantly a humidity issue. I'm still glad the tech did that "squeezing of the keys". But now that the humidity had gone back to normal I see that all the keys have freed up and my slow-to-return is gone I think because of both the Tech and Humidity.

As pointed out, I would broach the subject very nicely if it came to it. But I am so darn non-confrontational that I never did call back the tuner, and it's been over a week now, and I don't think he'd like me calling him now. Maybe if I did the next day, but, you know. For all he knows I've been using the thing as a cheese grater since he tuned it.

I will say that this was a new tuner for me. He was very nice, and seemed very proficient at his job. But I think next time I'll call the 1st tuner I tried. I know it's up for debate, but the 1st tuner did it by ear, and I liked the end result better than this one. Even tho the 1st tuner worked on a different (junky) piano. But both tuners know each other, both went to school together. I'm sure they are both great at their jobs, just something about that 1st guy's work that I liked better.

It's quite possible that the tuning made this stick out to my ear more. From the original post there were 2 issues post tuning. A "ringing' issue and a "dull" issue. The ringing went away on it's own (something setteling? the humidity?) But that dull is still there. And I'm almost positive that it wasn't there before. If you just go up and down the piano it sticks out like a neon blinking smoking sore thumb. normal-normal-normal-PLUNK-normal-normal etc. It's not slight, it is vastly different from the rest of the piano.

But as I said, I don't think I'll be bugging the tech about it. He did a great job, and I'll just get this issue settled some other way.

I'll check to see where the hammer is hitting. But as I said, the piano is in fantastic shape, the hammers are hardly grooved at all.

Hey, thank you everyone. I hope someday I can repay everyone here with my knowledge. Who needs to know about theatre-acting-writing -or- making long-haul-photonic-optical-microchips?

Cheers!
Brian

There can be issues with Kimball consoles, but a good tech can sort them out.