Could you please bang on the keys?

John Cameron is a very fine woodworker. He designs and makes artisan furniture, wood and metal engraving, boat building, etc. Soon, one of his works will be exhibited at Smithsonian Institute this summer. He is also a passionate Jazz pianist who plays gigs all around town. Some years ago, a friend of his was throwing out an old beat up Baldwin grand piano. Somehow he was informed and took this piano. Now Miss Baldwin sits happily in his woodworking shop getting exercises/PT  every day. Good for her ol' joints. 

Every 6 months or so, John calls for a tuning. He says that the tone and touch on this old lady is much better than many newer pianos he has tried on.  Because of his passion on the acoustic piano, I always try the very best to tune her, and bang on the keys hard to keep the rusty strings stably in tune. But Miss Baldwin didn't want to stay put. Sometimes John has to use his own gooseneck tuning hammer to tweak on the tuning pins before a full tuning service is due.  

I scratched my head on how to help with the tuning stability. The pinblock is a laminated hardwood board installed under the plate where the tuning pins are threaded in. The pin threads felt loose. That did not help the pins to hold strings in tension. The easiest solution is to drip thin super glue at the base of tuning pins and let it soak into the wood to add grip. In order to save him some cash and get out of there soon possible to pursue the tuner's own enjoyment of life (just jokin'), he was asked to do this on his free time. So he did. Six months later, evidence was found that he successfully did his homework. Each tuning pin was surrounded by crystal clear hardened superglue.

Yet, Miss Baldwin still did not want to stay in tune for long. Maybe the strings were not seated solidly against the bridge pins. Before the next tuning, the strings were tapped snug by the bridge pins. A wooden hammer shank was used to massage the whole speaking length to evenly distribute the tension on each string. After all that, the piano was carefully tuned.

Six months later, before the next tuning, John said, "whatever you did last time, don't do it again." Apparently Miss Baldwin slipped out of tune soon after the tuner escaped. Embarrassed and mad at myself, my rusty brain was forced to spin. Possibly the strings were heated up with the massage and still cooling down during and after the tuning. The pitch was affected by the changing temperature on the strings made of steel. The newly settled string-to-bridge pin connection might be settling down through the 6 months, too. Maybe...... Nothing was adjusted this time, just a very hearty solid tuning.

This tuning, six months after string massage and seating by bridge pins, was way more stable. Also each key was banged very hard during the tuning to let the hammers hit the rusty strings with a strong blow, evenly distributing the string tension especially at the V-bar section.

Yet, I found the best solution a year ago. Right after the tuning, banging, checking, and retune, I yelled to John who's busy with his wood and tools, "John! Could you please bang on the piano for a while and knock some notes out? I'll fix it right after." What do you expect? A whole 10 minutes of heavy acoustic Jazz. You'd hear a whole band out of the ol' girl Miss Baldwin. Upon finish line, he lifted his head and looked at me, "is it enough? I tried but may not have hit every key." I smiled widely and tried not to expose all by grinding teeth to him. A few notes were knocked out. They were fixed, banged, and fixed again. Now we have a plan for each tuning service thanks to ol' John and his ol' Miss Baldwin.

My gratitude to all customers and pianos who helped greatly on the tuning and repair skills. Without your feedback, I could not improve nor grow. Thank you all!