–Cy–

Yamaha Piano 2003 C7 (7.5′) concert ready. Satin Ebony, selected by audiophile, and fastidiously maintained by an RPT (me). Pristine condition and only has five years of use. Pampered in a controlled environment, one owner, never moved. This beauty whispers and roars, and gives you everything in between. Perfect strings, bridges, soundboard, pinblock; light hammer wear. Complete with all maintenance records. Price reduced to $25K.    505-989-4060    C7Leonard@gmail.com

http://convention.ptg.org/classes.html#etds

I’ll be covering some of the advanced features of the TuneLab tuning software. If you have topics you’d like me to cover, just email me.

–Cy–

The call was for 7:00 AM, and the piano was to be delivered at that time. I would have two hours to prepare the piano before filming. The shoot was on location at an enormous local high school, and as I got near it, I got stuck in the line of parents dropping off students. I went around to the other side, and saw the rows of semis and trailers dominating the parking lot. This was a huge production! A sign pointed to crew parking across the street.

I parked, grabbed my tools, and headed over. A security guard directed me to the check-in tent, past rows of actor’s trailers. It was a busy scene of dozens of people scurrying around with gear, efficient and friendly. I was welcomed at the tent, and guided to a van where I was driven the auditorium on the other side of campus. I was introduced and led to the stage, which held an old oak upright. I didn’t see the movers anywhere, so I let them know that they’d soon be getting a nice full-sized grand. That’s when I learned the director had a change of heart! He didn’t think that would represent a typical high school, so he asked for an old school piano instead (he was right!).

A pianist was rehearsing, so I sat in the audience to wait my chance for tuning. An enormous twenty-foot-long camera crane was being assembled while risers were assembled and taped off to avoid reflections. Soon a group of young people gathered around the piano and rehearsed a song. A young woman’s melody soared over the others, and when she opened up, it was a powerful professional voice. I moved to see who it was. I didn’t recognize her, but I will certainly watch for her in this episode when it airs. The piano, unfortunately, sounded very much like a typical school piano, but overall in tune. I made a plan of attack when I had my chance to work on it.

In a few minutes, they finished and left the stage. As I opened up the piano, the AD told me that they would start filming offstage right away, so I would only have snippets of time between takes. We considered rolling it elsewhere to work on, but it would have to go far to avoid interfering with the shoot, and wasn’t practical. Everyone thought the piano didn’t sound bad, anyway. I asked for at least half an hour to touch up the unisons and do what I could, and they agreed. So I started up, and when the calls “Background!” and “Action!” were relayed, everyone froze in a prayerful position. I never did see any filming, but heard lots of it. When I heard “Cut!”, then I continued on for another few notes.

My goal is to prepare the piano as best as possible for its intended use, which usually means producing the kind of sound you hear on a recording. This once-over was just fine for the role this piano had to play. I even have a method of recreating that honky-tonk saloon piano sound (which is a specific kind of out-of-tuneness).

So they were happy with my work, and I had a fun experience. But I certainly don’t want to get any on-the-air credit for the tuning of this piano!

You can replay many of the tests before answering. Some of them have two phrases separated by a delay; some are a single phrase. Read carefully, and take them more than once. And yes, all of my scores are above average. You may have to come back to this link to go to the next test.

http://www.tonometric.com/

–Cy–

Some pianos spend months in transit by ship, with huge diesel engines that create a lot of vibration. For grands on their side, this means the hammers are being forced sideways against the flanges repeatedly, and the dampers are moved back and forth across the strings. Most manufacturers tie down the action to minimize this stress, but it’s still there. Don told us how to eyeball to make sure the hammer shanks are all directly over the wippens. Sometimes the action needs to be shimmed at the bass cleat to make an overall alignment correction.

The next impact is environmental acclimatizing. Pianos from overseas typically arrive today in an airtight bag inside a crate. The first day after opening them here in New Mexico, they sound fine. Within two or three days, usually there’s a big adjustment starting (our relative humidity indoors hovers around 25%-35% year-round). This means keyslips can warp, binding white keys at the front; hammer shanks can twist, causing alignment problems; key sticks can expand, binding on the pins; keyframes can change, throwing off key dip, requiring re-bedding; and everyone’s favorite, a variety of damper seating problems (binding at the guide rail, twisted heads, etc.). Customers have an unerring ability to walk up to a new piano, and at first touch, play the one note with a damper issue!

The improvement phase is an extension of the work already done at the factory, as a final quality control step. I try to catch inconsistencies in regulation: the one note where letoff is wrong, or other things that don’t feel right as I play the piano. Lubrication is standard: trapwork, key pins, keybed, damper wires, even music desk glides. Sometimes small adjustments need to be made to the fallboard, or the grand lid locking pin.

This whole process repeats itself, at a smaller level, after the move to the customer’s home, and this is where the first warranty service comes into play (I don’t like to minimize it by calling it “the free tuning”). Issues can come up during the move, and environmental differences in the home can cause minor binding or alignment problems. We also get to make sure that the piano is positioned away from hazards like nearby heating vents.

There’s a big difference in customer satisfaction if we catch a damper problem before sale and correct it, or if the buyer is annoyed by the problem in their home, and it’s not fixed until the first warranty service. Callbacks are a pain, and even though the same amount of work is done, and the problem is fixed, the buyer remembers the problem, and this affects the reputation of both the dealer and the manufacturer. (And it’s also cheaper to fix the problem on the showroom floor.) So most dealers I know work hard to prepare their inventory before sale. I don’t recommend that buyers pressure dealers to skip this work.

–Cy–

http://vimeo.com/4041788

The shorter the key, the less it weighs. Also, short keys generally have to angle more at the back to reach the action at the breaks. This causes more side pressure on the bushings. Lastly, think about a key as a lever or pry bar. If you’re trying to turn a rusted bolt, you put an extension on your wrench to make it longer. Shorter keys give less leverage. And in side view, the shorter the key, the steeper they are when pushed down (the key travel at the end of the key is generally 1/2″ on all pianos). Take a look at this picture of a nice long key, on a full-sized (48″) upright:

Long key from a full-sized upright (48\

White keys: overall length: 15 1/4″. Distance to fulcrum: 9 1/4″ to about 4″.

Black keys: Overall length: 13 1/2″. Distance to fulcrum: 8″ to about 4 3/4″.

OK, this is kind of dry, but wait til you compare it to a short key (picture soon). What motivated me to upgrade from an upright to a grand was learning the “Moonlight Sonata”. The first chord of the first movement in the right hand is G#, C#, E. When I played it, with the pedal down, it would sound like this: “La, da-da, di. La, da-da, di.” — the C# was striking twice every time I played it once!

Now, there are many possible causes for double-striking (including the piano needing regulation), but most uprights need firm pressure at the bottom of each keystroke to avoid this, especially with the pedal down. When you play that chord, you’ve got to have your finger all the way at the back of the key. This means you have the least amount of leverage. It’s even worse on spinet keys, which can be half this size.

Note that the balance rail pins are staggered to adjust for the shorter black keys. In fact, on this piano, if your finger is all the way in on a white key, you have about 3/4″ less leverage than on a black key!

More pictures soon.

–Cy–

• You can download performances from the web and play them back. Many piano competitions make the MIDI files available.
• You can add the recording capability (sensors under the keys), a very powerful component. You can play pieces, save your performance, and play them back later.
• Even without the playback component, the recording component turns your piano into a perfectly-weighted MIDI keyboard. You can connect it to a computer and run software that writes your sheet music for you as you play, or changes your piano into a pipe organ.
• You can get a piano lesson remotely by hooking up your piano over the Internet to your teacher’s piano. As you play, his piano also plays. He can then play your piano remotely, to show you ideas.
• Several of my customers have found that the only time they get to practice is when their baby is sleeping, and the piano wakes them up. With the recording component and a sound-generating module, you can listen to your piano through headphones. A “stop rail” can be added so that by pulling a cable, rubber bumpers pivot down to prevent the hammers from hitting the strings (but the keys move all the way down).
• You can also activate the stop rail and play the sound output through speakers. Most modules generate hundreds of sounds, from harpsichords to trombones.
• Some player systems have Internet connections, so you can tune to player piano Internet radio channels! I’ve seen this on Yamaha DisKlavier systems.
• Player systems often include amplifiers and speakers under the piano, so you can hear vocal and orchestral accompaniment to your piano’s playing.
• Another customer of mine has a whole-house sound system, and routes that audio output to it. You hear Sinatra and the orchestra from the living room, and then the piano comes in to accompany from the foyer. Very cool surround sound!
• One of the latest developments is a unit that synchronizes your DVD player to your piano. You can watch a concert performance, and see Norah Jones play your own piano. Locally, there’s a demo system on display in Cottonwood Mall.
• There are systems with a flat-panel screen in the music desk, to show your music.
• Top-end systems can be controlled remotely with a wireless tablet. I never thought I’d see a WiFi router in a piano, but I have! (My piano has an IP address!) Change the volume or song selection from upstairs with the tablet, or with an iPhone app.

I think this kind of integration is what will keep acoustic pianos fresh and interesting in the future. PianoDisc has just released a high-definition version of its system, so the playback quality is more subtle. QRS and DisKlavier are also actively improving.

If you’ve had a player system for a while, ask your technician what upgrades and enhancements are available. Here are some links to get you started.

http://pianodisc.com/

http://www.qrsmusic.com/pianomation.asp

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/disklaviers/

–Cy–

–Cy–
505-265-4234