Hi, Ron,
Not really wanting to open this thread again, but I had to give you a public "thank you."
Two days ago, I had a tuning scheduled on a Steinway 1098, a new customer. The recent discussion thread
had reminded me that I am not alone in having often found these pianos more a challenge to tune.
The tuning technique advice you offered in that recent discussion (pasted below) was fresh in my memory, so I
decided to utilize it in tuning this piano. I must say that it yielded very good results; my best experience ever in
tuning this particular model. I just wanted to say "thanks," and encourage others to take yours advice and try it.
Best regards,
Claude Harding
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The thing that works best for me is the same thing that works for me in
every piano. Tune in the attack, hitting the key repeatedly and quickly,
firmly but not pounding. You get instant and continual aural feedback on
what the string is doing and how it responds to pin movement. As you get
close to where you want it, the movements get smaller until you end with
the thing stable and where you intend to leave it. The string is settled
as you tune, so no test blow is required, but doing one won't move the
string. Techs that tune in the decay find it impossible to tune these
things, and take twice as long for a typical tuning as they should.
Tuning in the attack will speed your routine tuning up considerably too
as well as improving stability. Everything you need to hear happens in
the first half second of the attack, and you'll be hitting each string
probably 20 times or more as you tune. Tuning in the attack produces the
accuracy, while the continual hitting of the string produces stability.
A few brave souls on the list tried this and found that it works very
well. Try it.
Ron N
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