I have recently seen some youtube postings on piano tuning that almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. These were obviously done by rank amateurs or people with a huge amount of Hose Cuervo and time on their hands. Now there are some instructional videos on there that have some merit (even to other tuners). To the average Joe Public however, do you not think these shabbier videos do us technicians some damage and create unnecessary current when swimming the waters of explaining to a customer what we are doing?
One disturbing thing I noticed is the video poster can remove comments and block users from commenting on their endeavors. This only leaves comments of praise from the ill-informed. Yikes.

Ah yes, the trouble with the internet…. Everyone can appear like a hero. Not a hero?? Well just edit a bit and all the comments will be favourable………

I think that most people of good common sense will take the internet with a grain of salt. Even what passes for television these days on this continent, would only entertain a chimpanzee.

Yes there are some good things about the Youtube place, but people would have to be aware that you have to kiss a lot of frogs in order to find the good legitimate videos.

As a matter of fact, when folks ask me about some of the crazy things on there, I use it as a sales tool and inform them this is exactly what you would NOT want to do.

I am sure some of the video posters there are genuinely trying to be helpful, however misguided.

The best comment is “oh I saw it on the internet so it must be true!” This one usually shocks them back into reality….. for the ones that it doesn’t……well you don’t want them as customers anyways…..

Aw...c'mon...examples!! We want examples!!

Should be good for a laugh. Any video that purports to teach you to "tune your own" should fit the bill.

On the other hand, Ron Koval's videos are the 'real thing'. But, how is the layman to know?

Personally, I'm more offended (aurally and musically) by those who put videos up with HORRIBLY out-of-tune pianos--good players, too, not just hacks...WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????

Here you go JD...enjoy. I especially like the piecemeal effort eg. I tuned this note on Sunday...and these three the following week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mCDICCMVto
Tuning a Piano (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kdzDGd0ol0&feature=related
Tuning a Piano (part 2)

LOL!!

Two-hundred-fifty cents flat, you say???

Ah...hand me that gee-tar tuner...I'll just float it...

LOL

It's annoying just to watch it so I quit!

This reminds me of Genesis, on the 1st day of my tuning......on the second day of my tuning.......on the third day of my tuning...... Gag me with a treble mute.

I got about as far as when he said "the strings loosen up with use and only go flat, not sharp." Lotta loose brains coming from that video! What's he been smokin?

I posted a comment there. You can have an account and sign up in seconds.... this is not piano tuning......this is ugly....

Your comment will be up for about a day at most Dan...believe me I posted one too. The only reason I watched part 2 (I felt like the poor chap forced to watch the movies in A Clockwork Orange)was to see if he finished or came to any conclusions. The only thing sadder than this guy is the one who posted on the bottom "Dude, you can come tune my piano any day".

I swear I resisted looking at that stupid video for as long as I could, but the discussion peaked my interest far beyond what it should.

I swear. Is this an example of all DIY'ers???!
Probably to some degree!!!Here we have a guy with "perfect pitch :rolleyes: who goes out and finds a piano for $20 and seems to think it's great because it's old.

What is really sad is some of the comments in there applaud his efforts.

We need to remember this one. He will probably show up here sooner than later telling us what a great job he has done!!!!!

Yes Emmery I love to experiment. I want to see how long it will take for him to find the comments and send me a nasty email….

He was forced to watch the movies but listen to Ludwig Van!

Bob

Love the biblical reference…… here is another one. He could tune that piano for forty days and forty nights and it wouldn’t sound any better than it does right now. You can hear the sounding board is all crashed in and strings are cooked….

I re-rated to one star…. One too much I guess……we can always go back and tag team the guy……

Then there's the other guy who has a piano tuning tutorial. He suggests that since you have 1 tuning fork, why not 12? Then he suggests to download the notes into your MP3 files. I guess you play them on your Ipod....
How stupid.
Oh the Sam Smith Blind piano tuner was cool. He got a new liver and is back to tuning at 65. You could see that he had an excellent hammer technique. 50 years experience.

Wow...check out this one...he mutes with a DOOR STOPPER!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQSG6NsQj30&feature=related


He's kinda creepy, too...

We used to have a blind tuner in the 50's-60's in our area of Niagara that was the only good tuner at the time. My girlfriends mother traveled with him and did repairs while he tuned. Anyways, I figured if he could tune without sight...it should be snap for me to learn, right? ....well you know where this leads.
I seen a video a while back thats not there now of the "tuner" that broke a string and commented on it being the left and right string of 2 adjacent notes. He suggested that you can just leave it alone and to suggest to the customer to hit these notes a little harder.

If I were as gifted as Ron Koval, I wouldn't have second thoughts about sharing my skills the way he does. It's giving away freely what has been freely received.

It is not a cause of concern to worry piano techs. The "average Joe Public" can't do better than experienced techs. If you come across a surgeon performing a surgery on a patient on YouTube, will other surgeons worry that people might pick up ideas and perform their own surgeries on relatives and friends in their homes?


JUNMER

Surgery is perhaps a poor example because many things are involved thats not easily procured by the public. Someone can pick up a hammer and a few mutes for under $50 however and make a mess of their piano. I remember seeing a video of a guy showing how to "relearn" the chip on the ECM of your car by simply unhooking the battery for 5 min. Dealers charge 50+$ for this, but after seeing the video I would choose to do this simple thing myself. This is an example of how these videos can be helpful. what these guys are doing is the opposite.
My point is that, if an hack "sells" his idea to the unknowing public and is misguidedly praised for it by his brethren, we are left as respectable tuners trying to fend for ourselves that what we do does indeed take skill.

Hi Jumner,

Naaa, really, that's not what bothers us Junmer. The general public already thinks tuning is simple and there is nothing to it because they do not have a clue and cannot hear it. Including those guys that are making these dumb videos. That just adds to the confusion and belief. Fortunately, their lack of knowledge makes them look pretty stupid at the same time.

Hello, I don't see the problem with any of this. If any useful sort of DIY tuning is impossible, then the call that should have been made to a tuner beforehand will still come. of course it will now be more difficult, so point it out and charge accordingly.

Hey Emmery,
Jerry’s and my comments are still there today! On the links you posted.

I think those guys who made those "dumb videos" now get the dose of their own medicine. They can only fool people who are also fools by pretending to talk as if they know what they're talking about. As soon as their videos reached PianoWorld, all sorts of criticism and disagreements are hurled at them.

But I'm a fan of Ron Koval. Hope he's not among those whom you think that has made dumb ones.


JUNMER

PS.

Hi Jerry, guess I've been so busy lately that I missed reading 300 of your last posts! Remember I was always on the lookout at how fast your speed is.


JUNMER

Oh no, Junmer, I think Ron's Koval's video's are great.

You're not really reading all of my posts there are you Junmer? I appreciate it though!

Half of my posts are just making people smile sometimes...

So the other half of the postings make them cry??? :p

That's why I'm always after your posts. Somebody has got to make me smile after a lonely hard day's work.

JUNMER

Thanks, Dan. That made me laugh.

Thanks Junmer! Dan???? :p :p :p :p :p

Geez! Quintuplet Tongues……. Sounds like a new punk band…….. that is a lot of left clicking Jerry......

Sorry, but, I just CAN'T resist this one!!! You lead me right into this pun Dan...

Well, at least, I'm in the "right clique."

Jumner stated
>But I'm a fan of Ron Koval. Hope he's not among those whom you think that has made dumb ones.

Nope, Rons and a few other posters are like apples to oranges in regards to what we're poking at here.
I do have a small peeve about some of the better videos Ive seen however. Quite often lesser quality pianos are used for demos. This leads to a bit of sloppiness in regards to how the work is done around them. For the most part its not an issue with these demo pianos, like using the top of finished woodwork for a tool tray or clankingly tossing tools around on top of the harp as you work. I personally use vice grips with brass inserts to clamp to anything that can be deformed (vice grip tips are in the 50+ range on Rockwell hardness scale). They can deform/crimp music wire and they will mar up hitch pins. This only really matters a lot when your working on someones immaculate piano where they don't have a scratch on it, and don't appreciate one being there when you leave. Its worth the trouble to ingrain this extra care into novices, as old bad habits are hard to break.

Jumner stated
>But I'm a fan of Ron Koval. Hope he's not among those whom you think that has made dumb ones.

Nope, Rons, and a few other posters are like apples to oranges in regards to what we're poking at here.
I do have a small peeve about some of the better videos I've seen however. Quite often lesser quality pianos are used for demos. This leads to a bit of sloppiness in regards to how the work is done around them. For the most part its not an issue with these in shop/demo pianos, like using the top of finished woodwork for a tool tray or clankingly tossing tools around on top of the harp as you work. I personally use vice grips with my own brass inserts (similar to the ones used in piano factories)to clamp to anything that can be deformed (vice grip tips are harder than the materials in pianos and can deform/crimp music wire and they will mar up hitch pins). This really matters a lot when your working on someones immaculate piano where they don't have a scratch on it, and don't appreciate one being there when you leave. Its worth the trouble to ingrain this extra care into novices, as old bad habits are hard to break.

Yeah, that's true. Thanks Emmery.

JUNMER