Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What an Examiner in the Piano Technicians' Guild Taught Me about Piano Manufacture
apprenticeship | 09-23-2024 | CharlesOconnell

Posted on 09/23/2024 8:41:03 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-38 last
To: dfwgator

21 posted on 09/23/2024 9:45:38 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Titus-Maximus

The high end Yamaha electronic pianos are pretty sweet.


22 posted on 09/23/2024 10:18:15 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: ansel12
My mother considered purchasing a house at the beach, but the maintenance costs were too high. You have to continually relace the external wooden structure.
23 posted on 09/23/2024 10:20:34 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

Cactus? I’ve made it but not worth the stickers.


24 posted on 09/23/2024 10:22:24 AM PDT by bgill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: jeffc
I've actually tuned a few of my pianos when money was tight. I bought a book and improvised the tools. The wacky thing is that pianos aren't evenly tuned; they have a "temperment".


Amazon

25 posted on 09/23/2024 10:25:02 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

I don’t know about that, I lived in a wood structure on the water that was well over a 100 years old and many of the coastal apartment buildings and houses on the beach are old and wood in Southern California.

I wonder if she meant to keep it pristine? Keeping things pristine on the beach is a losing battle.


26 posted on 09/23/2024 10:31:01 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

She meant things like external staircases, fences, wooden trim, etc.


27 posted on 09/23/2024 10:46:41 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: ansel12
a wood structure on the water that was well over a 100 years old

Was it on an ocean beach?

28 posted on 09/23/2024 10:47:47 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: CharlesOConnell
it's a tragedy when a beautiful performance is marred by a less than perfect instrument

Yeah, uh huh, that's what I blame my performances on. Haven't had this one tuned in forever. Afraid the strings will start popping like in a cartoon.

The other night, the cat wouldn't come inside so I opened the windows and began playing. Whoosh, in she ran. She insists on playing and everyone better get out of her way until she's finished. Up and down and up and down. It was grandma's old piano so I'm sure she wouldn't be very pleased but kitty sure is and it makes me smile.

29 posted on 09/23/2024 10:48:05 AM PDT by bgill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Yep, that stuff, the windows, the sliding doors, decks and furniture.


30 posted on 09/23/2024 10:49:34 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

well played…


31 posted on 09/23/2024 10:53:02 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Yes, it was the carriage shed from a long gone and forgotten mansion of the late 1800s that some had turned into a beach shack by adding a floor and a tiny bathroom and stove and bar sink with a 6 foot wide bedroom, and the ceilings in those were only about 5’11”, the windows were homemade without screens of course and with props to hold them open.

The walls and ceiling boards were just that, boards, there was no other wall or roof, just those boards, that conversion may have been done during the 1920s to make it usable on weekends.


32 posted on 09/23/2024 10:58:01 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: CharlesOConnell

Wowza.

Always more detail.

In everything.


33 posted on 09/23/2024 11:11:50 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jeffc

I no longer bother with audio tuners. Instead I’ll rough out each string by ear to a keyboard, then compare adjacent strings on the 7th fret using the 8th for the B. Before adopting this tuning method, it was the G that often required ongoing adjustment. After restringing, I’ll check the Intonation by comparing the 12th fret harmonic to open for each of the strings. If the bridge supports individual string lengths and micro tuners, all the better.


34 posted on 09/23/2024 11:17:29 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

REO Speedwagon — first song on the car radio today!


35 posted on 09/23/2024 12:00:19 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: bgill

Some people like to singe the prickly pear fruit to get rid of the hairlike thorns that are so irritating, but that’s a lot of time and trouble. What I do is blanch the cactus fruit in simmering water for at least a minute. That softens up those tiny stickers so they don’t stick. Doing about 10 at a time works out well so that one group is blanching while you peel the previous batch.

Picked the tunas Saturday, made and filtered the juice yesterday, so we’ll make jelly tomorrow. A lot of it will be Christmas presents for people who live in other states.


36 posted on 09/23/2024 2:12:32 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: CharlesOConnell
I have two acoustic pianos and would describe the tuning as subjective rather than whatever passes for objectively perfect. Tuner does the best he can. I do tune the harpsichord myself. (a nice double manual Flemish I picked up down the road in Maine - still sounds like two skeletons copulating on a tin roof)

'S'okay. Everyone's ears have their own standards. As a piano banger and composer, I get by with whatever and adjust as needed.

Besides, quirky can be a source of inspiration. Legend has it that Chopin had a bum unregulated c key when he was composing the Op. 53 Polonaise (Heroica) and took advantage of it with that off-beat accented c in measures - 40 something to 50 something? A few measures right before the recap.

37 posted on 09/23/2024 2:49:27 PM PDT by Sirius Lee (Trump/Vance 2024 or GFY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CharlesOConnell

That is fascinating detail. Computers will never replace the love of an art and the craftsmanship it takes to produce it.

Makes me miss my friend who built harpsichords and a concert pianoforte before he passed at age 45. He also built well-crafted parts of my house.


38 posted on 09/23/2024 8:44:53 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (Propaganda keeps only governments in business, not corporations. —John Nolte)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-38 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson