Growing up in New York City, I had a memorable, rotund tuner named Buchbaum, who talked my ear off while tuning a Sohmer upright. Consequently, he left the piano with "beating" octaves, thirds, and sixths. In so may words, the piano not only took a beating, but it warbled all over the place, causing widespread… Continue reading Piano Technician Call Back: Please fix these notes! (Before and After Video)
Tag: piano technician
Assessing a piano prior to purchase
This can be an iffy universe, depending on whom is hired to do the new or used piano evaluation. I had one negative experience, paying a tech who basically had a commercial tie to the seller, who was himself a technician buying and selling pianos. Nevertheless, I still embraced my "new" Baldwin Hamilton's character and… Continue reading Assessing a piano prior to purchase
Windex on ivory keys: Did it remove the gray spots?
There was definitely an improvement after Mark scrubbed the whites and even the black key OFFENDERS with Windex. I don't believe, however, that the gray will ever be totally removed because it had become ingrained into the keys by its introduction through supposedly "shoe-dyed" ebonies. (See https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/piano-maintenance-teaser-graying-ivories-and-a-squeaky-note/) Here are photos that I took 24-hours post… Continue reading Windex on ivory keys: Did it remove the gray spots?
My Baldwin grand piano gets its first diagnostic, tune-up, and regulation
It sounds like I'm talking about a used car. For Mark Schecter, Registered piano technician it might as well be. He emphasizes that the piano has thousands of parts that must work harmoniously to make playing a smooth and pleasurable journey over the 88s. In the case of my blind date Baldwin, "the old car… Continue reading My Baldwin grand piano gets its first diagnostic, tune-up, and regulation
Piano Maintenance Teaser: Graying ivories and a squeaky note
This is a video preview of what will follow later today when several uploads related to my Baldwin piano's weekend "regulation" are lined up on You Tube. As a start, one of the problems plaguing my recently acquired Hamilton grand 1929, a.k.a "blind date piano," was a grayish discoloration on every ivory key. In my… Continue reading Piano Maintenance Teaser: Graying ivories and a squeaky note
Treading on hallowed ground: the challenge of maintaining fine pianos after a personal tragedy
I kept this controversial blog topic in my back pocket for safe keeping until a close friend fired off an e-mail with a link to a recent movie review of Pianomania: From IMDB: "Pianomania follows Stefan Knüpfer, a piano tuner from Steinway and his famous clients Lang Lang, Brendel, Buchbinder and Pierre-Laurent Aimard as they… Continue reading Treading on hallowed ground: the challenge of maintaining fine pianos after a personal tragedy
York’s World War II Musical Memoir (Video)
York had shown me burns on his arms that he'd sustained in Hiroshima following the US attack. The blisters sprang up rapidly on the afternoon he'd been dispatched to the scene. I had always surmised that York's deeply embedded scars were from piano strings "poppin'"on him. But one morning he told me the indelible piano tuner marks were intermingled with the effects of the A-bomb. York dropped off a newspaper photo that showed him embracing his… Continue reading York’s World War II Musical Memoir (Video)
York’s tweezers, soundboard steel, hammer stem saw etc.
York's wood saw used to trim hammer stems and pedal rods. A string of keys from the piano tuning supply house. From Left to Right--Yellow dust cloth;Wurlitzer Duraphonic Radial soundboard; Soundboard Steel to mount a dust cloth for cleaning under the strings. York's grandpa, a piano tuner, would make his soundboard cleaner out of a… Continue reading York’s tweezers, soundboard steel, hammer stem saw etc.
Patricia Frederick’s text is provided in full where it had some missing parts in the Fritz Blog.
Due to margin mechanics problems, part of Patricia Frederick's text was missing in today's blog on the Fritz piano, so here are the entire paragraphs which have relevance to the discussion. Patricia Frederick http://www.frederickcollection.org/ "What I particularly like about Viennese actions such as the Fritz, is that the single escapement gives such a direct sense of being in… Continue reading Patricia Frederick’s text is provided in full where it had some missing parts in the Fritz Blog.
More Photos from my Dream Piano Adventures
Connell York, Piano Technician: York examines a moth hole in a hammer felt: Terry Barrett, RPT, Registered Piano Technician is pictured below getting ready to tune the Aeolian table style piano. In the process, he discovered its true date of manufacture as April, 1936 (engraved into a key after he pulled the action) confirming York's… Continue reading More Photos from my Dream Piano Adventures
