Piano Tuning

The variety of information I find here is astonishing. So I thought I’d give this a try.  

I have a piano. Made in the 1920-30’s and sold for $800 when that would buy you 2 new Fords.  

It was the dealer show model called an upright grand.  Supposedly a great Honky-Tonky piano because how loud the sound was.  

Right now to my tin ears it sounds good, but others tell me it tends tuning Anyway the piano tuners I’ve called tell me they won’t tune it because it’s too old.  Apparently  the many decades it hasn’t been tuned means there is little chance they aren’t seized. 

I was thinking of getting the right sized socket and backing each off a 1/4 turn and then bringing them back to original.  Then calling the tuners and seeing if they will come out.  

Will that work? 

In reply to frenchyd :

Kind of. 

If the piano has not been maintained for decades, the bridging is likely very dry. It may no longer support the stress of the strings when you tension them (which means it won’t hold a tune). 

Whats your end goal?  If it’s to sell it to make money, you are not gonna make much. Old uprights have very little resale value. I have one in near perfect condition- I’ve decided to donate it to charity. 

If your end goal is to make music, it’s gonna be tough to get it back in condition. 

They make wonderful liquor cabinets.

Trivia...

A honky tonk piano was the name given to old saloon upright pianos. One string of each note was slightly detuned, which gave it a very tinny sound. 

A tack piano is similar. Tacks were placed on the strings to give the tinny sound. 

Perfect for ragtime. 

(My Dad owned a music store)

Hey wait a minute...

An upright grand is different than an upright. 

An upright grand has a much bigger case, and not that good looking. Looks like an enormous coffin. 

An upright grand is basically a grand piano turned sideways without the pretty curves.

They are pretty rare.  They MAY have some value to collectors or museums.   Not sure.

Is your piano an upright “honky tonk”, or an upright grand?

A Spinet is the smallest upright. Jr size. 

A Console or Studio upright is typically 40- 44” tall. 

An Upright Grand is more like 50” or taller. 

If you have a “Giraffe” Upright Grand, it’s very valuable. Like 7’ tall and still has the curves of a grand. 

...and if it says “Steinway” on it, ignore everything I said. 

I picked up a Chickering upright made in Boston in the mid-1940's for sofa cushion money.  It was being played pretty regularly.  The owner was relocating and didn't want to move it. 

I got it into my son's bedroom where it sits today, and he plays it several times a week.  He also has a Yamaha electric keyboard, but he plays the piano more. 

I checked the tune with an electronic chromatic tuner, and it is almost perfectly uniformly flat just a bit.  I've considered getting a professional to tune it, but right there I'd probably double or triple my investment.  I refuse to mess with it myself on the assumption that I would make it worse and not better.

You might check the tune with a decent chromatic tuner to see where you are.  If just a couple of notes are off, you can likely improve the situation.  There are a few discussions on the web if you do some googling.

If you don't have a chromatic tuner, they are readily available from your local music store, or from various sellers on the web.  It's possible to get them for well under 20 bucks.  Korg is a popular brand.

https://www.amazon.com/Korg-CA1-Chromatic-Tuner/dp/B002PMHAVS

In reply to SVreX : I just wanna make some music. I stripped off the old shellac with the intention of doing a French polish on it. I wanna practice on this and then do a great job on my grandfather clock I made.  Sorry for the lousy picture, I’m painting the ceiling on the bridge.  

Yes it’s at least 50” tall, guessing closer to 60 inches. 

1988RedT2 said:

I picked up a Chickering upright made in Boston in the mid-1940's for sofa cushion money.  It was being played pretty regularly.  The owner was relocating and didn't want to move it. 

I got it into my son's bedroom where it sits today, and he plays it several times a week.  He also has a Yamaha electric keyboard, but he plays the piano more. 

I checked the tune with an electronic chromatic tuner, and it is almost perfectly uniformly flat just a bit.  I've considered getting a professional to tune it, but right there I'd probably double or triple my investment.  I refuse to mess with it myself on the assumption that I would make it worse and not better.

You might check the tune with a decent chromatic tuner to see where you are.  If just a couple of notes are off, you can likely improve the situation.  There are a few discussions on the web if you do some googling.

If you don't have a chromatic tuner, they are readily available from your local music store, or from various sellers on the web.  It's possible to get them for well under 20 bucks.  Korg is a popular brand.

https://www.amazon.com/Korg-CA1-Chromatic-Tuner/dp/B002PMHAVS

I bought mine from a piano company,  paid them $20 but gave them another $5 for the bench.  They loaded it in the pickup and I had help getting it into the house( dead of winter with snow on the ground) 

the easy part was getting it up on the bridge. Just wrapped straps around the timbers and some around the piano. Then a come along lifted it up and I pulled it over and set it down. 

Thanks for the advice I’ll check before I do anything. 

In reply to frenchyd :

Cool.

Like 1988RedT2 said, electronic tuners are cheap.  You can tune it yourself with enough patience.

If you have a tin ear like you said, the tune might not be so good.  If you have a tin ear like you said, it wont really matter that much!  

In reply to SVreX :

Well a little over a thousand hours of flight time with a pair of unmuffled Wright radial engines. Plus all the  extra time spent on the flight deck etc,  then decades of unmuffled race cars (since1975) not to mention all the saws grinders compressors impact wrenches etc. since I was a kid.  

My hearing is less than optimum not to mention the steady ringing in my ears.  Maybe I should just leave it alone.  

The un-said concern from the piano tuner is that the soundboard, which almost inevitably will be cracked by this time, will explode when they start to tune it.  Generally, when the soundboard explodes, you wind up with a heap of cast iron and lumber on the living room floor, sometimes containing a generous helping of the piano tuners blood.

That's what my piano tuning friend worries about, anyway.

To that end, if you really want any chance of safely tuning it I'd put a humidifier in it/near it and start humidifying it 24/7 for about 2 months before trying anything.

As per REO Speedwagon:  You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.

That thing probably weighs every bit of 800 lbs.

What make is it?  You can probably find some info cast in the harp.

Sadly a lot of acoustic pianos and most organs are pretty much worthless now

In reply to frenchyd :

Honestly, I wouldn’t touch it. If you can’t hear that it’s out of tune, what difference does it make?

Make some music, have some fun!

Do you know what is worse than spiders on your piano?

Crabs on your organ

What is the difference between a piano, a fish and a pot of glue?

You can tune a piano but you can't tune a fish

Please forgive me:

What's better than roses on your piano?

Tulips on your organ.

In reply to Floating Doc :

No forgiveness for you. 

Streetwiseguy said:

The un-said concern from the piano tuner is that the soundboard, which almost inevitably will be cracked by this time, will explode when they start to tune it.  Generally, when the soundboard explodes, you wind up with a heap of cast iron and lumber on the living room floor, sometimes containing a generous helping of the piano tuners blood.

That's what my piano tuning friend worries about, anyway.

Maybe that’s why every tuner I’ve talked to so far is reluctant to try it.  I guess I just have more faith in cast Iron.  I’ve worked on Iron that age and older with no sign of failure. I wonder how much of that is real and how much is just urban myth started by piano salesmen trying to sell new piano’s  

On the other hand, if I can’t hear the difference, what does it matter?  

Antihero said:

Sadly a lot of acoustic pianos and most organs are pretty much worthless now

Why?  There still are people playing/ selling new ones.  I realize there is a whole generation now of kids who grew up with electronics.  But just like there remains a really strong market for records in the digital age, old cars, and other things of a by gone era. 

You’d think vintage pianos would have value.  

1988RedT2 said:

That thing probably weighs every bit of 800 lbs.

What make is it?  You can probably find some info cast in the harp.

I’ve got better, It’s a display model and on the lid is the brand and price in a decal.  When I get a chance I’ll take a picture. 

frenchyd said:

Antihero said:

Sadly a lot of acoustic pianos and most organs are pretty much worthless now

Why?  There still are people playing/ selling new ones.  I realize there is a whole generation now of kids who grew up with electronics.  But just like there remains a really strong market for records in the digital age, old cars, and other things of a by gone era. 

You’d think vintage pianos would have value.  

Because for the most part, they're large objects that are extremely hard to use that have no use. How many people do you know that have a piano in the house? How many people do you know that actually play it? Have you looked up how much it is to move one?

mtn said:

frenchyd said:

Antihero said:

Sadly a lot of acoustic pianos and most organs are pretty much worthless now

Why?  There still are people playing/ selling new ones.  I realize there is a whole generation now of kids who grew up with electronics.  But just like there remains a really strong market for records in the digital age, old cars, and other things of a by gone era. 

You’d think vintage pianos would have value.  

Because for the most part, they're large objects that are extremely hard to use that have no use. How many people do you know that have a piano in the house? How many people do you know that actually play it? Have you looked up how much it is to move one?

And because you can easily buy a keyboard, a single one, run it through a processor that will make it sound like anything from a Rhodes Piano bass to a Continental organ running through a leslie cabinet, to anything in between. 

It's the same with guitars, nearly all the pros now use a Fractal. You can dial up a '68 100watt Marshall head playing through a Vintage Ampeg cabinet and literally thousands of different distortions, delay, chorus, etc.

I know of one band in particular, and I'm sure there are more, that don't even record their guitars for their records anymore through an amp and cabinet. They simply play the guitar plugged right into the board, and once they get the take they want, just fiddle with all the different settings to get the exact sound they want.