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Pre-tuned a Yamaha C6 in the band room today and the Steinway D in the Chapel at the university. The C6 is getting moved into the chapel tonight to be used for concerto competitions tomorrow. Early morning tuning to get the C6 to match the Steinway D. I wanted to make sure they were both as close to 440 as possible before the morning fun!

Ron Koval
chicagoland

Within 5 years all Steinway production will be from Hamburg.

There will be a skeleton crew left on 57th for local representation.

A bold prediction I am hoping to be wrong about.

Old Melville Clark spinet (built on a Wurlitzer back). Clean rust from tuning pins/coils, reshape hammers, race 80 cents. After that, a 90's vintage Belarus console.

Tuned a Yamaha grand, an Everett studio, a Yamaha P22 and a Baldwin studio. Nice day.

First day back from vacation I jumped right in with a K&C grand in a church, then to a school for a capstan grommet job on a Grand Spinet. Everything was so rusty, the Kimball square metal nuts broke apart instead of unscrewing. Once replaced, I re-layed the keys, and did a reg. Then I fixed the ribs that were separating from the soundboard. Almost 8 hours on that one - whew. Then... tuned a Hamburg D at an artist's home. He's in Austria concertizing this week. Long day, but most satisfying.

Did a Acro, Baldwin Hamilton grand I rebuilt 20 years ago, Charles Walter studio, old Gulbransen grand, and Kawai console.

A Niemeyer upright made by Dongbei??? or some other massive piano combine in China, a Bohemia 123 upright 25-30 c flat needed a PR and a tuning, a Kawai RX-1 Blak--really sweet little grand--needed a PR, some repetition spring softening in the bass, and a small amount of voicing, a Diapason 108 (like a Kawai CX4 or CX5) that was at pitch. Drove 110 miles, too, but no traffic jams! Listened to the sports talk folks on the radio blather on for most of the day about the SF Giants...go Giants, stomp the Phillies!

Evaluated a late 70s Everett upright and told the purchaser to go for it!

A U1 and a CFIIIs, for two shows. Two strings broke on the concert grand. It is funny how it is not the string you are tuning that breaks. The first time, it was the one I just finished tuning, and the second time it was the one that I had not started tuning.

Wow, never had that happen! It's rare that I break one, but it's always the one I'm working on.

I have decided it is my job to break the strings before the concert, rather than to have them break during it. The only pianist who has been able to break a string has been Cecil Taylor, which was irritating, as he had been practicing on that piano all week. Of course, being Cecil, nobody noticed, not the audience, not him.

These are stress breaks. The string breaks at the capo bar, rather than rust breaks, where they break at the tuning pin.

I just had a broken string in the center section of an upright that I re-strung a few years back. The brand new Röslau wire broke at the pin, did not have any rust visible, and was most likely damaged or faulty wire in some way. Soon as I moved the hammer it snapped.....

Had to be the B beside middle C too.....you know behind the bass strings and all of that.....

Coil Setter break - Tapped the becket with the coil setter while stringing? Or, sometimes a coil of wire will be brittle - if that's the case, adjacent coils will snap in the future.

I remember getting a couple of bass strings with some brittle core wire once - It snapped when I formed a becket.

Today I have finished floor in my workshop. Tomorrow morning, I start bringing my machines, tools, furniture, and other equipment inside. That is going to be my very first real workshop, after more than 10 years of doing piano restoration jobs in my mother^s garage. I feel good.

Two 1950's vintage Baldwin Acrosonic spinets, a Yamaha grand, and an old Steinway M.

Tuned a Kawai vertical CX-21D, tuned a Kawai grand -KG-2D, raised pitch 1/4 + tone. Removed the action, cleaned out the inside of it and tightened the hammer rest rail screws.

Tuned a Kawai CX-5H. Get this. Typical idiot tuner syndrome. The "tooner" told the client that they were not going to raise it up to pitch and they did not complete the tuning and that nobody would know the difference anyway unless they used it with instruments. Man, you should have heard the thing. Talk about no rhyme or reason to a tuning? This was it. He tuned it back in Feb, 2010. This time of the year, the piano should be sharp. It was still, 1/2 tone flat! I raised it up to pitch, shimmed the balance rail, had lots of bobbling hammers, regulated the pedals that were not working at all. One pedal had the rod out of place. Like DUH! The other 2 pedals needed adjusting was all. I did a bunch of other stuff to make it play better. The tuning came out great after raising it up to 440. I was there for 2 1/2 hours.

Then, I tuned a Baldwin vertical full sized upright that was close to 440.

Two studios, one a Kimball probably from the 1980s, last tuned two years ago, which was not too bad. The second a pre-war Wurlitzer, last tuned in 2002, which was a little worse.

Bojan, congrats on your shop! Sounds great. I'll be getting started a set of key bushings in my shed today, which isn't bad, but it doubles as music studio and library. Not much room for machines!

Yesterday was a 5 year old Seiler 186 grand that needed a pitch raise, some hammer sanding/brushing, a small amount of damper work, and a couple of hammer flanges repinned. Nice piano, just untended for a while. Then we got to an old Story and Clark spinet from the 40s with inverted stickers. Surprisingly not a bad tone and mechanism. I was shocked, because she was a new customer. A Kawai RX-2 that gets played often and hard. Quickie blow/lo/drop regulation, sanded and brushed hammers, some near crown needling in the killer octave area. Finally, a rental tuning on a Baldwin Studio from the 70s. Unpleasant tone, and black stuff all over the action.

BDB, I agree with your "string theory." Better to break them during a service call than during a performance.

Thanks Dave. I shall try to post some photos, if I would succeed to do it. Regards to you all.

So now we have to bash the keys with our fists?

Saturday, tuned a Steinway B and a Baldwin L. Today, tuning a home, Cable Nelson she said with sticking keys. Then, had a last minute cancelation so, an open slot that I'm trying to fill. Then, a church. Tuning a Steinway M. Then, tuning a Steinway 0 and a Steinway B. Then, attending our local PTG chapter meeting. Busy day!