Pianotech

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Hi Terry,

I don't know the technical differences between the two models, but I can tell you neither one is prepped properly from the factory.  All termination points need to be addressed:  tension release of the nonspeaking lengths (hitch to aliquot/aliquot to bridge, aliquot to bridge, tuning pins to the front duplex, and on the front duplex), lift with string hook distal side of capo bars/agraffes, lift proximal side of capo bars/agraffes. 

Until that is done there isn't a fighting chance of the piano being stable. 

Also, I use an unusual sequence to tune that puts pressure on the board in a different way.  If you are interested in that PM me. 

Hope this helps.

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

I  have to check my records but I recall tuning one of these beasts. It was in a dining room and after the tuning it did not sound much better although I fixed lots of unisons. If you do a search on each model number in this thread you will find more info. The problem is the scaling design which Yamaha changed . The model was low end otherwise known as a PSO.   You should always take temp and rh readings and record it on clients invoice and your copy. Just because someone has central air and whole house humidity control the environment where the piano sits is what it struggles with. People constantly shut the ac off here, play with thermostats, try to save money shutting the ac down, use setback thermostats, open windows and doors. I recently placed a data logger in a church piano that has big time humidity issues. They cool the church off for the Sunday Services but use a setback thermostat. Temp and RH go out of the safety range midweek then both values go back to normal about Saturday

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Hello all. I tuned an 18 year old Yamaha GA1 for a new-to-me customer yesterday. The piano looks like new. He has tried three different piano tuners before me for tuning. He reports unsatisfactory results - piano seems to go out of tune quickly. It had reportedly been a year since the last tuning when I tuned it yesterday. The piano was generally 5 to 10 cents flat, with a few notes a bit above Standard Pitch and a dozen or so up to 25 cents flat. It wasn't one section that went flat, but rather randomly located notes. And it wasn't just one string of the three - it would be all three of them. I suspect the previous tuner was a bit of an amateur - but then again, I really do dislike criticizing someone else's tuning a year after the fact. The home the piano is in has central air with whole house humidity control. The piano is not near any doors, etc. It should be a very stable environment.

I am familiar with the GH1 and its stability problems - especially in the low tenor. I presume the GA1 model is offered as some sort of improvement to the GH1 - but I'm not sure. Does anyone have information on the the design differences between the GA1 and the GH1? Is the GA1 supposed to be some sort of improvement from the GH1? Does anyone have an informed opinion regarding any tuning instability problems associated with the GA1? I'm trying to figure out how to respond when the inevitable happens - the customer calls me a few months from now......  Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

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Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
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