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Grand piano restructuring


mooghead

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Hi guys...I'm the lucky owner of a 1972 Yamaha G2 (5,5 feet more or less).

 

When my father bought it for me in 1994 it was (as still is) in pretty good shape considering its age.

 

After ten years of use (not so intense but constant) I feel it now needs a kind of revision.

 

Every year in fall I've been calling the piano tuner for the annual tuning.

 

Now I can hear that:

- It's slightly out of tune. It's subtle, but I'm sure that if I can feel it...a real musician will hear it better

- It's lost its original brilliance, especially in the highs. The lows seem to overshadow the highs especially when going solo with the right hand

- The keyboard it's probably not as perfect as it was when delivered...I don't know how to describe it but I feel it's less an harder and slower action now. Central E doesn't work properly, not to the point of getting stuck, but it's nearly there.

- I got aware of this changes when I tried a P250 and felt it didn't sound worse (maybe even better) than my 350 kilograms grand piano.

 

What to do and ask for , to be sure that the technician does his own job?

How much is the average cost for such a refurbishing?

 

Take in consideration that's it's still a very good grand...just not so great as it used to be ;)

 

Ciao :)

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You should be getting it tuned at least twice a year, frankly. Depending on your location, different times of year are better.

 

In addition to some work on the action -- hopefully, just routine maintenance -- you may need to get your piano "voiced". Generally a very serious piano owner does this after buying a piano and getting adjusted to it, and allowing it to get adjusted to the environment. Voicing means adjusting the hammers to give the sound you want. One thing they do is set the stiffness-softness of the hammer felts so you get the amount of brightness you want. I think they sandpaper them to make them softer, and dope them with a glue-like substance to get them brighter.

Voicing can also change the sustain characteristics (I'm not sure how!) And finally, I suspect that they can adjust the point on the string where the hammer strikes, which obviously can make a huge difference (but I'm not sure about that.)

 

I've no idea what the cost is. It can probably vary a lot depending on how particular you are, how much work the piano needs, things like that. I don't know if the typical tuner/technician should be able to do a good job, or whether a specialist is required.

 

I did play one piano a lot that was dull sounding. It was an older piano (say, 30), and a technician talked them into allowing him to restring it -- using the same strings but turning them upside down. As far as I was concerned it was a complete waste of money. Sounded the same to me, though I made some agreeable gurgling noises to be polite.

 

I'm interested to hear what other advice you get here -- hopefully some good pointers!

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Thanks for the kind reply.

 

I think I heard about the work to be made on the hammers...but nevere heard about re-stringing the instrument.

 

The technician would be the same who sold us the piano. I think he's experienced enough to do it...then I would not know where to look for a "better" technician.

 

Tuning twice a year would be nice...but if the tuner himself says once is enough shouldn't I trust him?

 

Ciao

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In addition to a voicing you really should have a regulation as well. Try contacting your local Piano Guild (or whatever it is called) and have them recommend someone to service your piano.

 

You can even request to have different hammers on your piano if you want a different sound. I was going to have Renner (sp?) hammers on my six footer but I turned around and sold it. I wanted a softer sound as Yamaha hammers tend to give the piano a very bright sound. (It's a cultural difference, the Japanese like brighter sounds than Westerners. They certainly like brighter colors than we do.)

No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message.

 

In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments.

 

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"regulation" -- is that the term for adjusting the action, or is there more to it?

 

I suppose if the tuner says once a year is enough I'd take his word for it! Unless he seems like a lazy type. ;) Twice a year is what I've always heard as the standard, and has always seemed right. However, it occurs to me that this preceeds the time when most homes had air conditioning. The typical home might have a lot lower swings in temperature and humidity these days.

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I would suggest buying a copy of "The Piano Book"

by Larry Fine.It is the best $25 you will ever spend on your piano.

Having a little knowledge about cars will save you thousands at the garage.Larry's book will do the same with your piano tech.

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Cost of restoring our similarly sized grand was about 12k. The only thing I ended up liking about it was the relaxing feel of foot->pedal, eye->rack, hand->key, otherwise it wasn't that impressive. This cost included replacement of just about everything except the harp and soundboard. Plus the cabinet was refinished. You never know what your "new" piano's going to sound like if you submit it to that kind of surgery. Anyway, shortly thereafter, we moved into a new house with a leaking roof - - Oh my, I don't even want to think about it.

Was it worth it in the end? Heck no!

"........! Try to make It..REAL! compared to what? ! ! ! " - BOPBEEPER
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Originally posted by learjeff:

"regulation" -- is that the term for adjusting the action, or is there more to it?

 

I suppose if the tuner says once a year is enough I'd take his word for it! Unless he seems like a lazy type. ;) Twice a year is what I've always heard as the standard, and has always seemed right. However, it occurs to me that this preceeds the time when most homes had air conditioning. The typical home might have a lot lower swings in temperature and humidity these days.

I'm certainly not an expert, but a regulation entails adjusting all of the moving parts so that they are more or less back to the original specs.

 

As far as tuning goes, it's really a personal matter. If you play a great deal there's a greater chance that you'll start getting some notes that are out of tune. (I own three digital pianos so that's not an issue though I have had a regulation on my GranTouch since it has a 'real' action.)

No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message.

 

In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments.

 

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