Tuning a Reid Sohn

RS SU121 · Post by **RS SU121** » 23 Feb 2008, 20:26

Hi everyone;
I am just enquiring as to the tuning that my piano will be receiving. Basically, I bought a Reid Sohn 121 a few months ago, and it hadn't been tuned for 18 months prior to the sale. I finally got a tuner round (who is also used by the local school) and he said that it would need a few tunings a couple of weeks apart to bring it up to pitch. I would have been more inclined to accept this, were it not for the fact that a couple of notes in the treble were pretty out of tune (once he had finished tuning it) and the fact that the piano is no more than 20 years old (I thought such gentle treatment was reserved only for old pianos whose strings might not take the strain).
Am I overeacting, or should I go against his advice?
Regards,
William

mdw · Post by **mdw** » 23 Feb 2008, 20:51

The first tuning will have dragged the thing up to concert pitch. The reason for the gap in the tunings is to allow for all the strings that are going to go out to do so before the fine tuning ( where you move it a much smaller distance in pitch) . This is why pianos should be tuned every 6 months so the tuner doesnt have to move the pitch this sort of distance with all the agro it causes.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 23 Feb 2008, 20:52

Your tuner is probably correct. If it had dropped significantly in pitch, he would have spent his tuning time merely raising it to pitch. This is done by tuning slightly above pitch to start with, since the extra tension on the strings will result in a net depression of the soundboard, which will in turn result in a slight drop (hopefully not below the desired pitch) in pitch overall.

With all this upheaval, it's normal for one or two notes to drift out of tune. Ideally he should have tuned it again once he'd got it to concert pitch, but it's not always possible to do it in the space of one tuining appointment without being late for the next!

He will certainly need to return soon to finish the job but you've probably nothing to worry about. Some early generations of Reid Sohn also have the unwanted characteristic of 'clicking' tuning pins which can jump alarmingly above or below the desired tension. A number of tunings may well be needed to sort this out!

RS SU121 · Post by **RS SU121** » 24 Feb 2008, 00:34

Well, it looks like it should be fine then. The tuner definitely did bring it up in pitch (although it's still a little flat), and the rest of the pianos tuning is fine. Since my piano has the little "Imperial German Scale" badge, would I be correct in assuming that my piano would not be afflicted by clicking tuning pins (I just remember reading that only "newer" Reid Sohns have this badge)?

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 24 Feb 2008, 09:12

RS SU121 wrote: Since my piano has the little "Imperial German Scale" badge, would I be correct in assuming that my piano would not be afflicted by clicking tuning pins (I just remember reading that only "newer" Reid Sohns have this badge)?

No, they all have that Sir!

mdw · Post by **mdw** » 24 Feb 2008, 10:41

The clicking is caused by drilling the wrest plank at highers speed thereby over heating the glue and timber used to make the wrest plank which chars. This then makes the tuning pins snatch in the plank rather than turn as they do on better quality pianos. Its the little things like this that show as the difference between cheap pianos and quality pianos.

RS SU121 · Post by **RS SU121** » 25 Feb 2008, 19:16

No, they all have that Sir!

Woops!

I have just one more thing to ask - should I pay £50 for the next tunings, considering that I am in North London?

sussexpianos · Post by **sussexpianos** » 25 Feb 2008, 19:38

The charge for tuning depends on area. You are paying for a quality service by a profensional who needs to tune roughy 220 strings by skill and experiance. Its not a quick job and you are also paying for traveling time.
If you want a good job done, then you get someone who's good and maybe you have to pay a little more than someone else advertising but tuning is a skill, and thats what you are paying for.
I pay more to have my car serviced by a local garage than going to the cheapest as I know they are good and skilled at what they do.

PianoGuy · Post by **PianoGuy** » 25 Feb 2008, 19:41

£50 sounds very reasonable to me.

RS SU121 · Post by **RS SU121** » 26 Feb 2008, 21:07

I thought that £50 per session was a reasonable charge, but I thought that it might have been easier and faster to tune if it had only been tuned a few weeks before by him. Anyway, so long as the piano gets put in tune, I'm happy!