Stretching Strings

One of my side jobs/hobbies is piano tuning and repair. This means that my piano is out of tune (it's so close...I'll do it later...and later...and later...), and I have a piano in my garage that needs repairing(I just don't want to spend the money on replacement parts). It also means I go to complete strangers houses and tune their pianos.

Tuning a stranger's piano is always interesting. No matter what questions you ask over the phone, you never really know what you're getting yourself into.

First task is attempting to find the house. I always used mapquest.com or GoogleMaps at home before I leave. I also have a GPS on my phone. The GPS is wonderful...as long as I have coverage. Most people that I tune for live out in the country. No Phone Service, No GPS. Today I found my client's house pretty easily. Knocked on the door and waited...and waited...and waited. Just when I was about ready to leave I heard someone walking down the stairs.

Once inside, small talk is required so the client feels comfortable leaving you alone in a room. Having people around is fine, the noise doesn't bother me. I just make faces while I'm listening that sometimes is disconcerting to other people. :-)

Then you finally get on to the piano! Today a Kimball Spinet, Inspection Signature 1964. Main complaint: Out of tune & has a "Tinny" sound.

On inspection...yes, both of those complaints are correct. The Interior of the piano was in great condition. The Piano just hadn't been tuned in a very very very long time.

Now, in my estimation, Spinets are harder to tune than Uprights. I feel like Uprights have more play in the strings. Spinets tend to have sensitive strings. Once I sat down to start tuning this piano was nearly a full step low! That's 2 Half Steps(keys on the piano)! I started my tuning and quickly realized if I tried to bring it all the way up to pitch that some of the strings would break. Not good. I talked to the owner and we decided that I would tune it to 1/2 step low. Much closer. In 6 months, I'll go back and try to restore it up to normal pitch (A 440).

A Simple tuning reduced the "Tinny" sound immensely. The "Tinniness" happens when not all of the strings are in unison. Most notes have 2 to 3 strings, and if they aren't all on the same pitch, you will get a "Tinny" sound.

This piano is a very bright piano. Probably one of the brightest I've tuned. It's kind of cool that each piano is so different. After I was finished, I tested the piano by playing various samples of classical music, some improv, Scales, chords, arpeggios, whatever I could think of. I called the owner down to let her know I was done. Her son came and played the piano.

"Wow! That sounds so much better!"

Always nice to hear that! Another happy customer!