[AT] OT - using pitchfork

[Larry D. Goss]

Ah, the mysteries of the myths that people instigate.  Too bad that your
"piano tuner" didn't like uprights, Walt.  There's nothing wrong with
them.  As a matter of fact, the old upright player pianos were more
heavily built than ordinary ones because they really took a beating from
being played so much.  Those will normally hold their tune and their
tone a lot better than the lighter framed standard uprights of their
day.  I betcha your tuner also charged a premium for tuning grand
pianos, too.  Those are actually simpler to work on and to tune than any
of the uprights - a LOT simpler.  There are only two styles of pianos
that leave things to be desired -- square grand's (the mechanism is a
Rube Goldberg nightmare and the harp is too light to hold the string
tension correctly) and drop-action spinets (the bass strings are too
short and the sound board is too small to get the nice harmonics out of
the overtones that we all associate with a good piano tone.)

A lot of tuners look down their noses at the Hamilton studio pianos from
Baldwin, but those are fairly decent quality.  Every other church and
almost all school districts own at least one of them.  They are the
Chevy's and Ford's of pianos.  Baldwin couldn't have made and sold so
many of them without getting something right in the design.  It's kind
of like tractors.  We can argue with each other until we're blue in the
face about the various merits of Farmall, John Deere, Case, Ford, and
all the other colors, but when it comes right down to it, there wouldn't
be so many of them out there if the designers hadn't gotten something
right.

BTW, I own a Yamaha U3 upright. It is one of the largest upright pianos
in the current market.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of
DAVIESW739 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 10:10 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] OT - using pitchfork

Larry a kid we had a Piano that was bought for my mother when she was a
kid  
it was an Upright as an expert you will most likely UGH!! Upright. Well
that 
is  just what an old time piano turner said many years ago when my aunt
wanted 
it  fixed up for my cousin to learn on. All of us kids learned on that
old 
piano  even some of my nieces it was actually the only things that saved
from a 
burning  house that my Grandparents owned.  
Well the guy told my aunt I don't  work on uprights Mamn, he then asked
"By 
the way what brand is it."  aunt  said :Its a Ludwig"  He was down from
Auburn 
in 15 minutes. Normally  a   20 to 30 minute drive. 
My Gt. aunt who taught piano and owned  a very expensive grand piano
always 
said I wish my piano sounded as good as this  one. 
I was always very proud to play on it I wish I still had it I loaned it
to 
my sister about 30 years ago and have never seen it again. 
Boy what you learn on this Ol' tractor list.  

Walt  Davies
Cooper Hollow Farm
Monmouth, OR 97361
503 623-0460 
 
_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at