Piano Tuning Part 16

LESSON XVII.

~CONCLUDING PROFESSIONAL HINTS.~

Peculiar incidents occur in the experience of the piano tuner, some of which have come under the observation of the author so frequently that he deems it advisable to mention them here; there are incidents also that happen once in a life-time which must be treated in their time with tact and good judgment, and which it is impossible to describe here, as each tuner, in his special field, will elicit new developments. Occasion often requires the tuner to summon all his wits and tact in order to dispose of questions put to him, both by pianos and owners.

Among the perplexing things that come to the tuner are the terms used by musicians and piano owners to express certain qualities of tone and certain discrepancies of the instrument. We will define a number of these.

~Brilliant.~--The sense in which this term is used is astonis.h.i.+ng to one who is accustomed to using words according to their dictionary meanings. We have heard persons say their piano was too _brilliant_; or, that it was not _brilliant_ enough. They mean this term to apply to what we are pleased to call the voice of the instrument. When the hammers are hard, producing a sharp, penetrating tone, they call it _brilliant_; when the hammers are soft and produce what a trained ear would accept as a soft, sweet, musical tone, some persons will say that the instrument lacks brilliancy. Persons of a different taste, and, we would say, a more cultured ear, call the tone _harsh_ when the hammers are hard, and they usually desire the tuner to _soften_ the tone, which he does by softening the hammer ends as has been described in Lesson VII. This operation, which we call voicing, is a very delicate piece of work, and the tuner should exercise care and pains in doing it; so we will deviate from the trend of the discourse and offer a few directions here, as the previous instructions are hardly complete.

Insert the felt pick (which should contain only one point, and not three or four, as they usually do) in the point of the hammer and give it a rotary motion, so to speak, loosening up the felt and giving it its original elasticity. Do not pick up the felt at the point. This method, which is resorted to by many tuners, is injurious to the hammers and really does no permanent good. Another method which is very good, and a very easy one, is to take your parallel pliers and squeeze the felt slightly at the point. Apply the pliers at right angles with the hammer (if the action of the upright, your pliers will be in an upright position) and catch the hammer at a depth of about three-quarters of the thickness of the felt. If the hammers are very hard it may be well to use both the pliers and the pick; but care must always be taken not to get the hammers too soft, and extreme care must be taken not to get some softer than others. Some hammers are always used more than others and, of course, these will need more softening.

Usually those at the extreme ends of the instrument will need no softening at all, but sometimes the ba.s.s will bear considerable softening. After going over them in the above way, try them by playing the chromatic scale and you will invariably find some that need additional attention. Be sure that no hard tone is left, as such a condition is a great annoyance to a delicate ear.

~Singing.~--When a damper is out of order and does not do its work properly, they often say the tone _sings_. They say the same thing about the reed organ when a pallet sticks or a key stays down.

Sometimes this term is used to express the grating vibration which has been treated under the head of _sympathetic rattle_.

~Tin-panny.~--This term is often used and generally means that the instrument is out of tune, and especially that the unisons are out.

Sometimes it is used to express a _hollow_ quality of tone; but you will rarely, if ever, hear a piano spoken of in this way if it is in correct tune. Any piano out of tune badly may be said to sound tin-panny.

~Ba.s.s-ey.~--This term expresses a very harsh ba.s.s. Imperfect octaves or unisons in the ba.s.s of a piano give rise to the use of this term.

If the ba.s.s of the instrument is decidedly flat, the same term is sometimes used to express the condition.

~Harsh.~--This term, when it does not apply to the voice of the piano, generally reflects upon the work of the tuner (?). Chords are _harsh_ when they contain over-sharp thirds, bad fifths, octaves, etc. Take care that your temperament contains no bad chords, and after you are all through, see that all tones have stood, and that you have left no bad unisons or octaves. One or two carelessly tuned tones may disparage your otherwise creditable work.

~Questions.~--Questions are often asked the tuner concerning the care of the piano. Be prepared to answer any reasonable question that may come up, which your knowledge of the instrument should enable you to do. In regard to temperature, moisture, etc., an extreme either way is the thing to avoid. A very dry or hot atmosphere will crack the varnish, warp the wooden parts, crack the sound-board, cause parts to come unglued, etc. On the other hand, too much moisture will rust the steel parts, strings, etc.; so the "happy medium" is the condition to be desired. As to keeping pianos closed, a question you will often be asked, we think it is better to keep them open at all times than to keep them closed at all times; because, if they are kept open they are subjected to the changes of the atmosphere, which will rarely permit the piano to become either very damp or too dry. In a word, a room that is healthy for human beings is all right for the piano.

~Seasons for Tuning.~--The prevalent idea in regard to this matter is that pianos should be tuned either at the beginning of cold or of warm weather. In our experience, we have found that it makes no difference when the piano is tuned if it is kept in the living room. If, however, a piano were tuned upon a warm day in the fall and then allowed to remain in a room in which the temperature suddenly fell to zero, we could not expect it to stand in tune; and much less, if the room is heated up occasionally and then left for an interval at the mercy of the weather. Persons who treat their pianos in this way should have them tuned about four times a year.