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Hi Unright. When you gonna become upright?

I fell on October 14th twisting my right knee as I went down. I eventually landed on my right side. This took place while I was walking into a local credit union. Their carpeting took off from under me when I stepped on it like I hit a sheet of ice. That's what started this whole chain of "soreness." My lower back even got twisted and hurts. I've had to cut way down on work due to it which is madness because I have so much to get but yet, I can't get it all done. I have to just "quit" and go home..

Yes, unfortunately my shoulder does hurt a lot. The more pianos I attempt to tune, the more it bothers me.

How long was her recovery BDB?

She is still in a sling, about half-way through that. I help her with her flexing exercises. Physical therapy goes on for a couple more months or so.

I'm just recovering from the full knee-replacement. Interesting; more difficult than I expected. Good luck with yours, Jerry!

Story is at the end of "Let's Talk Weddings" thread on Non-Classical.

'Had to reschedule the day's tunings here in central Maine. 'Can't even get out of the drive!

When I am called home, just like everyone else.

Started out the day installing a new Dampp-Chaserâ„¢. From there, a private tuning; then on to the college for 5 more. Tomorrow will finish the college! Next week, on to the next college...

I think you'll be horizontal by that time.

Well, my body will be ...

My knees started to act up a few years back - then I started taking Glucosomine/Condrotin - It seems to help, as did losing some weight this past 3 months. I had some shoulder pain, which turned out to be related to the center console in the car I was driving at the time. It supported my arm at the wrong height and was causing my shoulder pain. Changed cars, and the pain is gone.

5 at the college bring it to a close! Phew...29 college tunings last week, 28 this week, plus a handful of private tunings. One more college next week and then back to private tunings for a while.

Good job Loren! I've not been getting much done lately. I've been home sick with a head and chest cold for the past week. Can't win for losing lately.

Nobody on here would want to know about the nightmare upright and spinet jobs I ran into during the last two weeks. They pay was good and provided for income for an assistant as well but brass butt plates, broken damper flanges, universal strings and a case side gluing problem are just too much for me these days. I ache all over from having to get up and down on the floor far too many times.

I am closing in on 2,000 posts. Maybe sometime in February or March I'll reach that mark but when I do, I'll know that each of my posts has been about something meaningful, not one line wisecracks.

Next week, more tunings Monday & Tuesday, then Wednesday, re-glue the side panels of that Wurlitzer spinet and it will play and sound very nicely since it has had its action all gone over. Thursday, clean and regulate a Kranich & Bach grand and use my string polishing method on it to rejuvenate the Bass strings. Friday, 6 tunings at the college for solo & ensemble competitions. One on a Steinway B whose action I rebuilt 3 years ago and is working and sounding beautiful. I am not a rebuilder but sometimes, I just have to do what I have to do!

Play day for me in my other fun. No pianos today though, but did play with a 36 Ford 2 door to get it up and running. My therapy when I'm not tuning or playing piano. (Saturday's usually my play day.

Since quitting my full time job at Thanksgiving, my piano tuning and repair work has slowly been gaining ground. The calls are finally coming in.

Last week I spent working on a Steinway grand in a local church doing some voicing and regulating work. It's ex player, but it is nice to get to work on something that isn't a "Grand" spinet.

Thanks Jerry! Sorry to hear you're not feeling well, though! Get well soon, the pianos need you!

And today I'm off! Looking forward to watching Pittsburgh crush the Ravens!

Well, as Saturdays go, today was a rather special one for me.

I did my first-ever piano tuning, on my Ibach, including a pitch raise from -70 cents (with quite some variation) to about -40 cents.

For all of you, it's old hat, of course, but not for me, so indulge me a recount of what I did.

I strip-muted the middle section and the treble, then pulled A4 to -30 cents (being deliberately conservative as a DIYer, and also given that some pins on the piano were quite loose in winter), then used Bill Bremmer's ET via Marpurg to establish a temperament. Then I tuned all A's into the treble (using octaves, twelfths and double octaves to check my stretch), then all A's into the bass, then D's, G's, C's, etc. etc.

Then I had to break, because junior was due for his midday nap. So I used the time to make myself a string-seating tool.

Later I continued, pulling the muting strips out one unison at a time, tuning all right strings to center strings in the treble (from C8 downwards to the treble break), then all left strings to center strings in the mid section (from E3 upwards to treble break), then using rubber mutes, all left to right strings in the bass (from D#3 downwards), then all right strings to center and left strings in the middle section (downwards), and finally all left strings to center and right strings in the treble (upwards).

In total, I worked for about 4 hours. The piano ended up at around -40 cents in the mid-range, which is what I had hoped for. (I only have a chromatic tuner, so I haven't done measurements of the treble and bass). I'll leave it there for a while, to see whether the looser pins can hold this tension.

Well, to my ears, the piano sounds good. Far from perfect, but better than it was. I can start to recognize the voice it's supposed to have.

My biggest challenges were pin setting (left vs. middle vs. right strings, and loose vs. intact tuning pins), as well as finding compromises in the tenor break and with the bass partials. D#3 is the highest note on the bass bridge, and D# (Eb) major sounds eerily pure...

Enough for now - let me end off by giving special thanks to Bill Bremmer, Chuck Behm, Jeff Deutschle (Unright Tooner), Isaac Oleg (Kamin), Patrick Wingren (pppat), Glen (Inlanding), Grandpianoman, Dan Silverwood, Keith Akins (kpembrook), Jerry Groot and several others, for the time they took in communicating either in detailed threads, or personally with me. But my thanks also go to everyone in the forums here who has helped me during the last few months with all my questions. If I neglected to mention anyone that I should have, please excuse me - it's been a long day... after 10 days of head cold, sore throat and bronchitis.

Today was a baptism of fire, so to speak... But I took the plunge, and I'm glad both the piano and I came through fine. (Or so I hope, at least...)

Nice Job, Mark. Give it a week or two, play it in the meantime, then tune it again.

Friday was a scheduled day off, then a school called needing 4 tuned, so I scheduled them for Friday, and another two as well. I get to the school at 9am to discover they needed 5 tuned, not 4. One was a 50 cent pitch raise, the other four just tunings. Finished all five by 1:30pm. Then on to a 150 cent pitch raise at 2pm, and a 85 cent pitch raise at 4pm. Home by 6pm. Finished paperwork and phone calls by 7pm. Not a bad day off!

Will do, Bob. It's so much fun to play when an A actually sounds more like an A than a G#, that I'm sure I'll be playing lots. From what I could make out, this is the first tuning the piano has had in 11 years... (the previous owner only used one tuner, and his last inscription on the keys is dated 2000).

[EDIT]

If that's a day off, I wonder what a "day on" looks like!?

For my part, I need to work on hammer technique. I experimented lots with hammer position, seating, slow pull vs. nudge/jerk - in the end, actually found the most effective solution working between 11 and 1 o'clock, pushing the pitch raise with my left hand rather than pulling it with the right. My r.h. fatigued from all the pulling. Fortunately, I'm rather ambidextrous, especially if I train the movement from early on, e.g. regularly work the PC mouse with the left hand to give the r.h. a break.

Of course not. Your wisecracks always take at least half a page!

Listened to tunings I did in the past. One 4 weeks ago, the other 4 years ago (with a damp chaser). Both were better than I expected. No wonder the phone doesn’t ring more.