Thursday January 29, 2026 at a very nice local high school. A lovely Boston grand piano was waiting to be tuned for chorus rehearsal. The location is close to the ocean so all the strings have more or less some rust. As usual, I turned the tuning pins counter clock wise to flatten each string until an obvious pitch change can be heard before pulling them sharp. As usual, I was scared as a rubbit afraid of any strings breaking. There had been 3 string splices on this piano. Yes, this was my first restringing job 10 years ago. I always wonder why Jude the boss trusted this naive short little thing to string this piano freshly graduated out of school.

Text corrected by German language Instructor Luca. Her website is Comprehensible German.

Mitte Januar 2026 habe ich Peking in China besucht. Dort habe ich meine Eltern und meinen Opa gesehen. Opa ist jetzt 98 Jahre alt. Er ist immer glücklich und gesund. Als ich durch die alten Straßen ging, trauchten meine Kindheitserinnerungen wieder auf.

(Corrected by German Teacher Luca at Comprehensible German)
2025 war ein Jahr voller Lernerfahrungen und Wachstum.

(Corrected by my German teacher Luca)
Wir stimmen Klaviere oft bei unseren Kunden zu Hause. Die Persönlichkeiten der Kunden sind unterschiedlich. Manche von ihnen sind wunderbar, aber einige sind komisch. Und ein paar wollen wir nicht wieder sehen.

This is a short note about Ms. Blüthner's rebuilding process. She was born in the 1880s. Our shop is fortunate to have her rehauled from action, soundboard to refinishing. The refinishing job is down by Maggio Custom Refinishing:
https://maggiocustomrefinishing.com

(Text corrected by my German teacher.)
In der Weihnachtszeit habe ich ein kleines Klavier gestimmt. Es ist sehr süß und es klingt wunderschön. Die Kundin ist ungefähr 80 Jahren alt. Sie hat vor 25 Jahren das Klavier gekauft. Sie hat es gut gepflegt. Die Oberfläche sieht perfekt aus.

(Text corrected by my German teacher)
Das ist Phil. Er ist Bauarbeiter. Ich sehe ihn ab und zu um das Gebäude. In diesem Gebäude arbeiten Spielzeugeisenbahnhersteller, Wresting Trainer für Kindern, Klavierrestauratoren und Fahrradmechaniker. Jetzt baut er den Eingangsfußweg aus Beton um. Er macht das ganz alleine. Diese Szene sehen wir recht häufig. Normalerweise laufen wir einfach schnell daran vorbei. Er ist auch an die Ignoranz der Menschen gewöhnt. Aber er arbeitet immer fleißig und konzentriert, egal was die leute denken. Ein Mensch kann viel Geld haben oder gar nicht reich sein. Wir sollten schwer arbeiten und den anderen Menschen helfen, wie er. Ich unterhalte mich immer mit Phil, wenn wir uns treffen. Ich bin stolz auf ihn, sehr doll.

About this time last year, I went to tune a family upright piano in a near by town. It was on a Saturday. The whole family was home, the parents and two small children.

According to them, the piano had not been tuned since who knew when. Usually this meant a humongous amout of dust bunnies under the keys and in the piano case. So I decided to take out all the keys and have the keybed cleaned. 

Seifhennersdorf is a small town in middle-east Germany. Everything is almost within walking distance. Here the chubby fluffy sheep eat freely without worrying about being taken by strangers. Here apple trees grow along the delightful little streets and they fall on the ground whenever they feel like it. Here houses are built per tradition without even one that looks not belong.

The old slotted screws are of very good quality, worth cleaning and polishing. The hardware stores sell mainly Philips crews and those with all different types of heads, but slotted. The resurfacing method here is taught by Mr. Jude Reveley, shop owner of Absolute Piano Restoration.

When the hammer top hits all strings of one note at the same time, the maximum power is transferred. To make the adjustment, the action must have been finely regulated and the piano freshly tuned. The cheekblocks are better in place to make sure the action is at the correct position. This hammer to string mating process is learned from Mr. Eric Schandall. 

This is a figured-out-by-self note after all sorts of failures and damages. I do wish to learn how factories and other workshops offset the wires by the plate strut. What damages have been made? All that one can think of.
(German practice on the first paragraph: Diese Methode habe ich selbst herausgefunden. Ich möchte gerne erfahren was die Manufakturen und die andere Werkstätten machen. Ich habe so viele Teile zerstört, die man sich vorstellen kann.)

Gypsy moths and their caterpillars eat and kill plantations. Often in springs, those spongy moth nests appear on plants, especially on trees. The caterpillars inside feast on the beautiful greens till the plant is killed. Here is an article about it: 
https://tompkinsweekly.com/articles/what-to-do-before-before-spongy-moths-damage-your-trees-irreplaceably/
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There is one little tree in the barrier in between the lanes on route 128. It is a little over one meter tall. Early in the spring, it was covered with those spongy moth nests. It was very scary to look at. 

This sharpening method for drill bits and router bits is taught by John Cameron, fine cabinet maker. After several uses of a drill bit, find a very fine file or a diamond stone, slowly file against the top surface of the drill bit until the rust or the unevenness is gone and the tip reflects a little light. Do not tilt the file or stone.

At the end of A1 level German language learning, I found these two news sites from Germany very helpful and easier to understand than other news broadcasts for German learners. One can understand over 50% of the content at A1 level and higher. 

These broadcasts are made for people with reading, hearing, understanding, and/or other difficulties, as well as German language learners. Each report is short and and maybe provided with word explanations. It feels nice to learn and grow a little bit each day. Here they are. Happy learning!

Tagesschau in Einfacher Sprache:
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/tagesschau_in_einfacher_sprache
Nachrichten in Leichter Sprache:
https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten-leicht/nachrichten-in-leichter-sprache-114.html