houston piano tuning by Bartlett Piano Service

Tipsand answers to frequently asked questions

1What should I look for when I buy a used piano? #2

It is wise to look at the piano as a machine, and examine it as one would the purchase of a machine. The "guts" make the piano work. How do they look? Are they clean and neat, or is there a lot of rust on strings and tuning pins, dingy looking hammers, dampers which have compressed so much they have wrapped around the strings. If you can take the fallboard off and lift up a key, look at the felt and paper punchings on the two pins (front rail pin and balance rail pin) to see if there is evidence of "critter tampering"- as in eating..... If the "guts" look bad, you may be pretty sure they are just that.

2What should I look for when I buy a used piano? #1

First of all, the case is the last consideration in order of importance! It's the insides (guts) which make a piano useful or not. Open the top of any piano and see how it looks inside. Do the hammers look old, worn and grooved? Those are red flags. Look at the thickness of the felt at key 88. That is often a good indicator of the whole piano. If the felt at the tip is flat, and there is virtually no thickness between the striking point and the wood molding below, this piano has had long playing and significant reshaping of hammers. It is not likely a good candidate for the average purchaser.

3Best Advice

Become educated about your pianos and pianos in general!!! The Piano Technicians Guild has a marvelous web site with loads of information- see link on the home page. There is at the PTG site also reference to the Piano Book, by Larry Fine. The PTG site has an "ask an expert" area as well. The moving company "Dadandbrad.com" site is much useful information as well. Corporate sites can also be helpful. Your valuable investment is best utilized when you are well educated about what you have and and what is needed to properly care for it.

4What is the Piano Technicians Guild

The PTG is an organization dedicated to educating technicians and the public. PTG qualifies technicians through a series of examinations, insuring that a modicum of quality work will be done on a client's piano. Registered Piano Technician is the designation for a technician who has passed all required examinations. The PTG attempts to hold high standards for workmanship and ethics. The local PTG site, www.houstuner.org lists all local PTG members, RPT's and their contact information.

Many PTG members take great advantage of continuing education opportunities within the Guild, and spend thousands of their own dollars to become better equipped to serve the pianos of their clients. There are also numerous e-mail lists which technicians use frequently when need of virtually immediate help with a challenging problem.

5What should I look for when I buy a used piano? #3

Look for evidence of mouse activity. Mouse droppings, rust on small segments of strings, and on bridge pins often indicate there has been mouse activity. Mice will also eat the paper and felt punchings under the keys and gnaw on the wood of the key frame and sometimes on hammers. They will often use these "supplies" to build nests.

6Buying a used piano, Tip #4

This may really not be a problem. I have seen pianos with soundboard cracks so large one could see through to the floor or wall. If there are no buzzing sounds caused by loose ribs or by parts of the soundboard buzzing against one another, a crack, especially a small one is not a great matter of concern. The older the piano the less "musical life" is left in the piano in all respects. This needs always be kept in mind. A piano does have a finite useful life.

7How do I go about getting my piano moved?

I always suggest you protect your investment by having professionals move your piano. Moving furniture and moving pianos are two vastly different areas of expertise, and capability in one does not necessarily mean capability in the other. I highly recommend Careful Piano Movers first. I have worked with George Golka an many occasions, and have found him always careful, capable of the most difficult moves, and conscientious. In the northern areas of town, check out Dad and Brad Piano Movers. He's been moving pianos for something like 50 years, and likewise uses best equipment and methods. Though I haven't worked with him, I have seen him move , and he is excellent

8Tips on moving pianos and other stuff

Here's a site worth checking out. They have a lot of good info on piano moving, which can help you recognize someone who knows what they are doing, and also some valuable information if you wish to attempt to move your own piano. They also are informative about the "wheels" on pianos, which are often just accidents waiting to happen.

Learn to Move

9Can a piano be tuned in 30 minutes?

Can Rubic's cube be solved in under a minute?? The record is something like 13.5 seconds..... Yes it is possible. I have pianos which I tuned in less- but they were regular tunings for a school district, and were so close to start with it was just a tweak to complete them. There is a grand piano in that same district which takes me two hours on the best day, and 2.5 on a bad day. One doesn't just "tune" a piano. There are pins which wobble and stretch, wires which don't want to move under pressure points, and wide variations in the torque of tuning pins. All those things affect the ability to tune with speed. The distance a piano is "out" is very significant as well. On the other hand one has to ask what is the "standard" for tuning? What is the quality of the piano and its own capacity for quality tuning? After one has tuned 20,000 pianos, there are certain reflexes that go below consciousness and become almost automatic. This also affects one's potential speed. Pressure can sometimes decrease needed time, and sometime have the opposite effect. Tuners also have "good days and bad days". All of this has to be considered in the question, and the answer is yes, no, and maybe..........

10What about electronic tuning devices?

A fool with a tool is still a fool. Technology has come to the aid of the tuning field as it has in most every arena of life, but it never replaces the human ear as final judge of correctness. There are several reputable electronic devices on the market (TuneLab, Cybertuner,Verituner, Sanderson Acutuner). A qualified technician will tune as well with aid from an electronic device as will a strictly aural tuner.

11What are the best brands of pianos?

This a trick question, sort of. The piano industry is changing at a pace that it is virtually impossible to keep up with all the goings on. Much of the piano market now comes from Asia, especially China, Korea, and Indonesia. Many old, recognized names have been purchased by very new companies far removed from connection to the original companies..... Persons purchasing pianos these days need to do careful research. Larry Fine's book, "The Piano Book" is excellent, but often changes occur faster than his book can be changed. Magazines like "Music Trades" also help. The consumer needs to carefully research the market, and piano manufacturers before purchasing a piano.