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Grand piano tuning kit12/26/2023 The strings pull with a for of some eighteen tons on the metal frame to which they are attached, and this force must be redistributed very quickly to avoid abnorma l stresses on the frame and soundboard resulting from inequalities of tension. I have heard complaints that a tuner bringing a piano up to pitch sailed through the job as if he were in a hurry to leave but the best tuners will in fact work as rapidly as possible during this process. The tuner will first bring the piano up to pitch, greatly increasing the tension on the strings. If the piano is a semitone flat, he will probably recommend more than one tuning during a period of two weeks or a month. When the tuner arrives you can expect him to tell you something about the general level of the pitch. Suppose that yours piano has not been tuned in some time, or that you have just bought a fine piano from someone who has neglected it. It is common to find pianos a full semitone below pitch when they have not been tuned in some time instead of A 440, these instruments have an “A” 415 – the A has settled all the way down to A flat (415.3047 cycles per second). This is true whether the piano is brand new or very old. Piano strings are under heavy tension – about 160 pounds per string – and if a piano is left untuned for more than a year (of if the tuner fails to raise the general level of the pitch when tuning a neglected piano), the pitch will gradually drop as the strings loosen. The A below middle C – number 37 – will thus vibrate at 220 cycles per second, and middle C itself – number 40 – at 261.6256 cycles. This means that the A above middle C (number 49 in the piano tuners’ system of identification) will vibrate at 440 cycles per second. All pianos today are designed to be tuned at A-440. Regular tuning is necessary not only to keep a piano up to pitch, but also to prevent damage to the instrument. Even though pianists have seen this operation many times, a review of tuning procedures is an useful prelude to a discussion of more complicated services. The first thing you will want to discuss with your technician is the most common service needed – tuning. If, however, you leave a note for your tuner telling hum that there is a squeak in number 73, he will know immediately what you mean. Keys can, of course, be identified as “sub-contra A,” “three-line C,” and so forth, but many tuners are unfamiliar with this nomenclature, and many musicians have forgotten its details. These numbers identify not only the keys themselves, but also the action parts moved by these keys, and the pitches the produce. All piano tuners use a simple system of numbering the keys: the lowest A in the bass is number 1, and each key in the ascending chromatic scale is numbered in succession – the highest key in the treble is thus number 88. Take, for example, the identification of particular keys. In order to discuss easily with the technician the needs of your piano, you should start by speaking the same language. A teacher who knows the basic facts about piano maintenance will be able to select a good technician and put the piano into his case with confidence. On the other hand, I have seen pianos that have been so badly rebuilt (because of an unwise choice of technician) that there was no remedy except to rebuild them again, at great expense to the owner – and unfortunate situation in every respect. Piano owners sometimes expect the impossible from their instruments: I have heard unjustified complaints about tunings and minor repairs done by very fine technicians. It is to the advantage of every pianist and teacher to understand certain fundamentals of piano construction and maintenance, so that he can know what to expect from his piano and his piano technician.
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