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This is a phenomenon that is not unusual. it can be replicated with any electronic instrument with a continuous sustaining note and a volume control. A sustained note can appear to rise in pitch as it gets quieter. This naturally happens with a piano note. Much depends on the tone quality of the not...

I have been sensitive to resultants ever since I was given some old organ pipes as a teenager and used two of them attached to an old piece of pipe that have an interval and it's resultant making three notes. The resultant was just as loud as the other two notes and my trick was to sound the pipes a...

I have many difficulties to achieve the right tone in unisons in three chords in the middle range. Often there is something wrong in any key There may be a terminology problem here. I assume you mean the word chords in its usual meaning of using notes in combination. Check the unisons as single not...

When I was a kid there was at least one old piano on our neighbourhood bonfire every November 5th. That was when neighbourhood bonfires were legal ( I think).

Johnathan, To answer your first two questions in reverse order, it Is a phenomenon, depending on the acoustics of the hall, the distance of the listener from the piano, the tone quality of the piano and the player, that a piano sound can appear bigger if the unisons are spread slightly. The threshol...

Thanks, Barrie, very informative. You make a telling point that "on most pianos adjusting the springs is not needed unless some has buggered about with them". One wonders why Otto's Steinway D shouldn't be in that category as it had been silky smooth like those at Steinway Hall quite rece...

Ahhh, back checks, not dampers. That makes more sense.

It says dampers on my screen. Must be my spellchecker. Always blame the spellchecker.

Don't forget,before starting grand reg,bend all the dampers back out of the way so they don't give you false responses. 5 minute job to reg them at the end with checkbende rand and old fashioned germans Care to expand on that, Vernon, it's not making sense to me, especially when I can save all that...

Exactly, Colin. Thats why I suggested pressing the note to release the damper instead of using the pedal. I would hesitate to adjust at the spoon on a small upright. As you know, further travel on the tenor damper can cause the lower end of the tenor damper to be forced back into the string by conta...

In dealing with a piano this morning that had some spillage in it, (yes, I start early at conservatories, it leaves the day free). I automatically flicked a string in order to quickly determine the extent of the damage to the stringing and I realised that none of us had mentioned this simple diagnos...

Who would put a 100 yr old Piano in a conservatory of music?....I would. About 2 years ago we were given a 7.6" barless. I have it in a safe place, an academIc lecture room where it is only used for musical illustration and small ensemble rehearsals. Absolutely no private practice. It was restr...

Under the heading of "now you tell me", it is always a must to note down the serial number of the piano you have selected. Since this is a public forum, I thought it a good idea to mention this, 'One to show and one to go' is a common marketing method where one piano is well prepared on th...

Where guarantees are involved, it is prudent to deal with Dawsons and have the local manager refer the problem to head office. In the best run companies, they would then enlist the aid of the distributer and ascertain the problem for themselves by sending out their most experienced tech. or hiring i...

You have been very patient. To send the same person to you 5-6 times to no effect is not rational and it is most likely too late to exchange your piano for the one you selected from the showroom floor. It shouldn't be too late to have your piano replaced anyway, particularly since you registered you...

Interesting thread, Johnathan 2nd. I experimented with temperaments in the '60's. As tuners, we think and work vertically, that is, harmonically. We are concerned with the sound of several notes sounding together and arrange the harmonics in a certain way so that nothing is really offensive and let ...

I used to tune a Hamburg C for the local 'lady Bountiful'. I happened to mention I had trouble building stability into the instrument and that it was going out of tune in a rather strange way. it was then she told me that there were two other tuners rotating tunings with me. I asked her politely to ...

ItOt sounds as if an unequal temperament would give you much satisfaction from your piano and you have already done some research among the myriad of options open to you. Even the rather cryptic tuning instructions that are left to us by Bach are open to more than one interpretation, as you have fou...

If I were your tuner and had carefully built stability onto your piano at 440 or slightly above over the years, Neither of us would look kindly at any suggestion of disturbing what has been so thoughtfully created. I was tuning consultant for the European premier of a John Adams piece that involved ...

http://www.plantscapes-officeplants.co.uk/htmlsite/humidity.asp & http://www.earthcouncil.net/freshair.htm (scroll down to humidity). there is a world of difference between an office and a home - most home have just about got room for the piano never mind Q gardens :wink: Barrie, It seems to be...

Do they tune everything in Greenwich meantone?

Thanks, Withindale. I followed your link and we spent a wonderful afternoon in High Wycombe. The museum there has a very comprehensive display of bodging and the chair making industry in general with lots of old film footage. The rest of the museum is well worth a visit, too. My bodging says also en...

If you have non-standard pin, need to forge this pin (hot press, smithy) I am attaching a chart-drawing and photo T-hammers http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/maxim-tuner/album/170673 Now you bodgers can make your own tools. I am having trouble understanding your remark. Factory apprentices of old starte...

I agree, Barrie, Max tells us (at least as far as I can make out the prose style of his computer translation) he has a square tapered socket and finds the 8 (I assume star shaped) sided difficult. I borrowed an impact lever for a day on one of those mammoth sales they have in America where they sell...

Johnkie, I basically agree, however, The need to purify either ones profession or ones race is not in itself a sign of moral superiority as history has proven. It is not either/or, guilty/innocent. A scenario where everyone wins is an ideal to aim for. Culturally, the west has an us/them mentality w...

I have observed changes in Max over the few months of his posting. His latest posts indicate that he wants to be helped. This would not have happened if he had been summarily kicked aside without a fair hearing. Were it not for what has happened here, well, not here, but on the American site, he wou...

rxd: My comment re bodgers/professionals was directed at the UK trade. I get the impression you agree ? I said what I said. I was careful not to indulge in name-calling since that would make me guilty of the very thing I speak out against. I did not read anything in great detail, just got a general...

STOP! STOP! Already. This sounds like the rabble baying for blood!!!!. Is this a trait of 'college trained' people??? Shakespeare wrote about protesting too much and went on to say how much it is evidence of low self esteem to have to put down another in order for a person to feel secure about thems...

I scraped n polished a set 7 years ago. Institutional c7. They're still white.
This set was more dark gray than yellow. I Finished them with antiquing wax as I remember.