My new Yamaha Upright

David B

I've been at this new church for a week now and I noticed an upright covered in the corner of the fellowship hall.

My experience is that uprights tucked away in churches tend to be old and not very playable. However, when I uncovered it I was quite surprised to find a nicely kept Yamaha U1 under there.

It actually plays very nice and has a neat practice/muted feature when the middle pedal is pushed down and to the left. Here is how it sounds (not muted). 🙂

https://youtu.be/774zH_Su4qw

God Bless,
David

dore_m

I'd say buy a tuning hammer and learn to tune with Pianometer. I'm sure you'd keep those pianos in tip top shape for your own enjoyment!

David B

dore_m That's a good idea. I might look into that. I could practice tuning the upright and maybe graduate to the grand in the sanctuary. Thanks for the suggestion. 👍

God Bless,
David

dore_m

As long as the pinblocks aren't really old and worn, it shouldn't be too difficult. Just takes some preparation and practice.

After you tune them, sample them. There may come a day when you leave there and having a copy to play will be priceless….

David B

dore_m Just takes some preparation and practice.

I'll have to see if I can find a YouTube video on it.

MacMacMac

Keep in mint that tuning a piano is not as easy as one might think.
Learning to do it properly can take years of practice.

CyberGene

There’s also the risk of breaking a string which might get you in trouble.

Del Vento

CyberGene There’s also the risk of breaking a string which might get you in trouble.

Actually breaking a string is something easily avoided and not too bad to solve. Enlarging the tuning pin hole would be bad - but that too can be avoided.

@David B check how to set(tle) the pins and how to set(tle) the strings rather than genering "how to tune". These keywords will bring you to the right direction!

dore_m

I'd say watch the videos and assess your probability of failure. Start with touch up tuning (doing the unisons). Don't try to bring up the entire piano if it's totally flat. Baby steps.

HZPiano

dore_m Don't try to bring up the entire piano if it's totally flat. Baby steps.

I've been meaning to write this too. It's super important.

Cheers and happy baby steps,

dore_m

The only time I've accidentally cranked the string too much was when I had the hammer on the wrong pin. I kept turning, but the note wouldn't change pitch.

So that's probably a common mistake that can be avoided if you're always careful.

CyberGene

I broke a string on my mom’s piano and it was the string I was tuning and I just couldn’t set it properly, so I loosened it and tried again and it just snapped… Couldn’t splice it though, there wasn’t enough material or I didn’t know how to do it properly. Haven’t replaced it for 10 years now but I’ll have to find a new string some day. Luckily it’s the lowest D key and I’ve rarely hit it in my playing.

dore_m

CyberGene I loosened it and tried again and it just snapped…

Was the string really old?

If I remember my materials engineering well enough, unless you overtightened, I would think the material already had a low ultimate strength and that the next person who tuned would have broken it anyway. But I guess the person who breaks it still is blamed even if the material was worn out.

CyberGene

dore_m Was the string really old?

Well, I think it was 50-60 year old at the time. Not too old but not young either. Besides, it hadn’t been tuned for at least 15 years which might have contributed.