Detuned piano

[kamike]

The technician who was supposed to tune my Bluthner model 2 two weeks ago never showed.  No one returned my phone calls.   (turns out he was delayed and expected his secretary to call me - she thought he called me, then she went on vacation for two weeks).

Meanwhile, I called another technician who came highly recommended.  He comes over, and the result is horrible...  the twang and bad notes completely ruin the music.  Unisons out of tune all over the key board.  this guy totally screwed up the job.

The first guy called yesterday after I called a third party who knew the tuner and had his cell phone number.   So he's scheduled in a month.  He feels bad. 

Meanwhile I have to live with this disaster every day for hours for the next month.  What would you recommend?  Would there be anything worthwhile about calling the second tuner on his bad job?  Frankly I sort of hate to see him touch this instrument again.

[daniloperusina]

I think it is worthwhile calling the second tuner. But do it promptly! Don't wait a week or two, then it will be too late (things can happen quickly to a tuning!). Be very polite and friendly to him, and ask him to come over and check his job. Ask him why it's so out of tune despite the fact that he just tuned it. If he says that it hasn't been tuned in a long while, that he had to raise the pitch to standard A-440, that this means that it has to be tuned several times to stabilize, then accept that he's probably speaking the truth! If this is the case, you simply have to pay him to tune several times, and you will be glad that you did! In a case like this, 2-3 tunings in close proximity would solve the problem for a long time to come. The way you describe it sounds just like a raising of the piano's pitch, and it will rapidly go out of tune, and sink somewhat again. Second tuning would stabilize it, but might not hold the tune; third tuning would make it very stable!

If he says that your tuning pegs are very loose, which means that it's close to impossible to tune it, and that it needs repair, he is also likely to speak the truth. Then you would have to be prepared to pay for a repair, but note that there are several ways to do such a repair; replacing your current pins with new ones; sticking in pieces of sandpaper in the pin-hole; injecting a "swelling" liquid into the pin-hole; or simply hammering the tuning pins down a little bit. The last one is simple and shouldn't cost much.

If he is professional, and comes with good recommendations, you would do wise to trust him. Don't act suspicous of his honesty or capability, as that would surely put him off, and he wouldn't bother ever seeing you again.

I hope I'm helping! There is of course always a risk that someone is a bluff, but how can anyone make a living tuning pianos if they don't know how to do it? I think it's much more likely that something is wrong with your piano. It beats me why they didn't say so? Perhaps you somehow made them feel uncomfortable?

[gfiore]

No, please wait for your primary tech to come anf retune the piano. The guy you called is obviously a hack, and didn't know how to tune the aliquot strings in the treble. The piano is new, so this is'nt an issue of a shot pinblock.
 

[kamike]

I am inclined not waste my time calling the guy back. 

The unisons were off everywhere, not just the aliquote section.  Funny thing was, this guy bragged how not everyone could tune this piano.  True, and he is not one of those who can.

I am quite familiar with pianos, and have had this instrument in place now for over 6 months, with the first tuning about one month after it arrived.  The humidity variations are not extreme and I believe that the piano is quite stable.  There was just some minor drift, primarily in the tenor section, after about 4 1/2 months. 

It is amazing just how sensitive the human ear can be, and how much difference there can be between a good technician and a bad one.