Plain and simple: there are way too many pianos out there for me to service by myself! I come to the simple conclusion that the best way for me to contribute is to share ALL the knowledge I have on a world-wide platform. I also hope to learn new things that I haven't ever encountered or considered. This will happen only as you share your insights, questions and piano problems with me through this channel.
I help two main groups of people: Piano Owners and Piano Technicians. My aim is to provide you with top-quality, free educational content that will bless your music-making lives! Continually sharing ideas leads to better ideas. Healthy competition in the industry leads to higher industry standards. I want to provide piano owners with knowledge to make good decisions that facilitate their art. I want to provide piano technicians and tuners with the knowledge, tools, and skills to do a better job. Can you support me in my cause? Let's do this!
I don’t know if it’s a humidity factor here in Houston, but in some larger grands with large sections of understring felt with the strings buried in it, I’ve been adding Protek CLP to the felt at the strings for easier tuning and stability. In particular, there is a church with a Shigeru Kawai EX that on average is tuned every 3 months and no matter what I did I’d have to come back a week later to clean up a few unisons. After that it would be rock solid. I would pound it, I would do two passes even when it was only 2-3 cents flat, I would add CLP to other bearing points like the capo and aggraffes, and even the Stephen Brady forearm smash with the sustain pedal down. After I started lightly lubricating the understring felt it’s been stable after the tuning and the strings movement has been more reactive with the pin movement. The only hypothesis I have is that moisture is trapped in the felt causing some corrosion on the part that touches the felt and is creating more friction. So if you were looking for another reason to use more costly Protek, here it is! 😂 I swear, if we find out one day it’s just like soybean oil I’m going to be so pissed! 😅
a question: when you do the last octave I saw that you do the 6:3 octave test. do you make them beat at the same speed? sorry for my english, I hope I explained myself. thanks
Thanks for your question! No, I don't always make them beat the same speed, I tune the octave until it sounds right, then I check the 6:3 to see what the difference in beat speed is in the check, then that can help me to make sure I keep that pattern similar as I tune octaves lower down and it's a check in case I get fooled and get way off course. Typically I notice that on larger pianos the minor third of the test beats slower than the major sixth. On small pianos, the minor third may beat the same as the major sixth. But if you tune the octave only based on the 6:3 it won't always sound the best.
@@saltlakepianoservice thanks for the reply, I also found the same thing but I wanted confirmation from an expert technician. I hope to give a video that explains how to tune the octaves, like the ones you made on the intervals of 4 -5 and 3. Very well done
@@naokookadahill5639 I have ground the two-prong tool in the past which was sold by Pianotek so it will fit Bostons. Currently I just use needle nose pliers to turn those.
This video is very practical and instructive for those like me who are self-taught in adjusting my upright piano by myself so thank you very much indeed.😉😉😉
Tuning to the fork by just matching the pitch as you listen to the fork will get you close, but it's hard to get it right on. We are shooting for a pitch that is within one cent of the fork margin of error, to get that close, I have to use a beat check to make sure I'm right on. So yes, faster and easier, but not as accurate as comparing the beats.
Very educational video, thank you. I'm contemplating learning to tune, as I am learning to play as well. Your videos have been the most helpful and honest. Thanks again.
I can't imagine what this would cost to fix. My baby grand has a few keys clicking. As it happens, I have been leaving the A/C on 78 for a month or two. 😢
This is a very rushed tuning right? Just a rough draft so you can actually tune. Right? Because copying octaves (even while checking 5ths) is just making a copy of a copy of a copy eventually when you get super high or super low, the errors compound. The most beautiful tunings are when you get the most matched overtone combinations possible. It gives lots of resonance to the entire instrument. Verituner cannot do that well.
@@FlyWithNoam No, this is a fine tuning before a Symphony rehearsal. Granted, this piano is tuned so much that things fall into place more easily and quickly. You practice tuning so that there aren't many errors as you go up. I only used Verituner here to get my A4 pitch, then tuned everything else by ear. Verituner is actually a very good software that does a great job, but I like tuning by ear for the reasons you mentioned, to get sonority by matching as many partials as possible as closely as possible. Octaves give us so many coincident or doubled partials (overtones) that this way of tuning works very well... Indeed this is how you tune by ear with efficiency. If there are things that don't sound good in the end, you can quickly fix them and check all the way up and all the way down by octaves to eliminate errors that were compounded. But in truth, the errors aren't really compounded, just duplicated. It's a lot more simple than a lot of people out there make it sound. The sound of the piano tells you very quickly if it's good or not. If you watch and listen closely to this video, you will see that I constantly check the sound of the tuning in a musical context to expose anything that doesn't sound the way I want it to. Thanks for your comments!
@@saltlakepianoservice thank you for the thorough reply :) I love your passion! I for sure know what you mean about things falling into place. I have a 1993 C&A D and a 2013 Hamburg D and they are so stable because of you tune every day for 1 month, after that they just stay!!!! I personally tune e3-e4 because the beat speeds are a bit slower and easier for me. Then I copy from temperament as much as I can. What do I mean? When it’s time to tune g5, I just put it where it’s slightly narrow with c4 and slightly wide with g3. You know what I’m talking about :) because the g3 c4 4th is slightly wide :) so we can’t 100% match both!
That is a magnificent sounding model D. Tonally well balanced with power in the bass that impresses but isn't overbearing to drown out other registers. The treble sings and sustains beautifully, added with a lush and resonant midrange. Kudos to Hyrum and his team for a beautifully done rebuilding job on this wonderful instrument. If I ever need rebuilding work on my Steinway, I'd have no qualms entrusting my piano to them. Well done.
The soft pedal point is so true for most pianos i usually avoid using una corda altogether, also because the shifting a whole keyboard sideways is really weird and startling 😅!!! Always wished for more subtle, still-noticeable-on-newer-hammers una corda voicing
Whoever owns that piano owns a jewel. The sound is brilliant but not harsh. The bell-like tone is unique but not strange. It carries melody like a voice. I cannot say enough praise for the skill and artistry of those who crafted the way it now sounds.
I'm coming back to these videos as I'm working on fine tuning my regulation. You went over setting up the back checks in a quick way with a 5 deg angle. I'm trying to repeat this, though not on brand new parts, and am having a hard time getting keys to check at softer key presses. Maybe my springs are just too strong, but are there other things to look for when i can't get keys to check easily? Many thanks.
Condition of the tails, length, arc, back check angle and closeness. Spring strength and pinning of hammer flange. What kind of piano? Sometimes brushing 80 grit sandpaper or a sanding paddle across the tail where it contacts the back check can help.
@@saltlakepianoservice Many thanks for the input. It is a Steinway M 1936 with new hammer shanks (pinning looks good) and new hammers but with the old Steinway tail style to go with the original backchecks. Something telling is that checking works pretty well for lower and upper octaves, being an issue only with the middle 3-4 octaves that get the most play. I suspected this was an indication that the backcheck leather was too warn and tested replacing the leather on samples, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. So I'm looking for other options. I'll try taking down the spring tension more (the new hammers are lighter so the strings are I expect too strong). I've watched you adjust springs in several of your videos but it is hard to gauge what is quite right. I'll also try sanding the tails as you kindly suggested. Do the old style Steinway backchecks require a different angle than 5deg or is it pretty much the same as the new style? Should the hammers check even with light (PP?) playing?
@@andrew81818 The hammers won't always go into check with the softest playing, but the important thing is that they don't bounce and hit the string again. Because of what you're experiencing, I always have the best luck with new back checks and try to always replace on the old Steinways and use the new tail length and arc radius. I don't hold to a certain angle, try going more vertical with the back check and see if that helps.
What do you think about the 1, 4, 5, octave check? (ex. C, F, G, C) I like using it because when there is a good compromise between the 4th, 5th, and octave the chord just “hangs” in the air and you don’t hear any movement.
Yeah, the 4th and 5th in between an octave can be useful. I would say the fifth needs to be considerably more pure than the fourth and I like the octave to not sound compromised at all. I definitely check the 4th and 5th often. That said, I gravitating towards using fewer checks and tuning the octave to sound really clean like a unison. I find when I do this the 4th and 5th are fine if my temperament was good. Fewer checks make for a moreover efficient tuning and I believe the octave tells us most of what we need to know.
I know you’ve experimented with mics, but have you seen those Audigo mics? I’ve been getting a lot of ads for them recently and they look like what you need them for.
How expensive are they? With me it's more a question of time to set levels and test. My RU-vid ventures aren't yet profitable enough to support investing too much into mics.
@@saltlakepianoservice lol yeah I hear that. Looks like $250 for one but you can combine up to 4 of these wireless mics and there is a discount for buying multiple. It seems like they are pretty much plug-n-play for levels and the stuff you’re doing, but I’m seeing that they won’t get an android app until 2025.
@@saltlakepianoservice the difficult thing I found with wireless mics when I was trying to find a cheap one to connect with pianoscope is that most of them have a chip or are programmed for the voice. So sounds like a piano are considered background noise and they automatically adjust them down.
Great video! Like most other techs, these are all things we’ve done hundreds of times, but it’s still interesting to watch another tech work. I’m usually listening to these while I’m doing menial tasks that don’t require my ears. Getting the Dale Erwin mini belt sander and also his micro finishing sand paper set about 3 years ago were a complete game changer for me! I can reshape hammers with deep grooves to look like new in about 15 minutes. I got a mobile I.V. stand off of Amazon and hang the motor from it. It’s way better than those bench mounting clamps. It follows me around and I can take it with me to appointments.
I can hear and feel the intimate discovery unfolding. The wheels are turning with no preconceived notion as to what is needed or expected from the world. Pure beauty and bliss. Thank you for capturing this. The future is bright 🌞
I think it would be really interesting to see how your aural result compares with any of the built-in tuning styles in pianoscope. I'm working on my aural skills, but I'm not quite to the level of competency as you very adequately demonstrate.
Correct, there are no hinges. You have to remove the screws and slide it backwards to release two pins that hold it in place. I think it was meant to not be tampered with by students and children at church.
For those of you watching the lack of audio shouldn't be a problem for the stream today. The purpose of this stream was to show the process of adjusting lost motion, let off, and key dip which we discussed and showed more in depth in episode 46.
