Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From PPP
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:01 pm
.... that's the Pahrump Piano Purgatory for those who have not been following the mostly annual visit to the trailer wreck desert inferno that is the home/aluminum sarcophagus to a 1913 Model M Steinway that my dad wanted me to have, to play, to resuscitate.
I skipped the visit in July 2011 due to a cowardly refusal to cause the death of this magnificent piano by trying to tune it in the scorching heat.
I skipped the visit in October 2011 due to skyrocketed CHTs and oil leaks in Chloe as I limped to Elwood's Blue Tarp Blue Shield old Volkswagen Hospital.
This time, I sez, "screw it, I am getting old too, let's do it." I played the requisite several games of Gin Rummy with my departed dad's next-ex wife and assisted with starting the Yamaha four-wheeler and watched TV in the air-conditioning until they went to bed.
At 10:30PM, armed with a real piano tuning hammer (thank-you Amy!!), a lighter for the incredibly poorly behaved kerosene lamps, a Diet Coke, and the piano tuning fork gizmo, I bashed through the obstacles of junk and opened up the piano in the 120* heat. Under horrendous flickering and popping, I slowly tuned the 230 (minus two broken) strings. I was desperately hopeful for an hour or so until I got to the bass octaves. There, I discovered that this grand dame has finally gone crippled. No amount of teasing would keep the lower end in tune. So, like any good doctor, I got my ball peen hammer out of the car and a real Coke from the fridge and I slathered that anchor block with Sugary Coca Cola, waited a few minutes, and tapped the pins firmly into the anchor block. Such a bellowing from the piano, sounded like it had fallen out the window. "Sorry."
This tune would last only tonight, and not even that as some aborted recordings will attest. No saving it. The best I could do is this muddy experiment that I never got to "develop" or "polish". By the second run through, lower "E" had gone lower still B flat and the "F" string next to it let go with a snake hiss. Pulled it out, but the damper is a v that needs both strings, so the remaining F just sounded as long as it wanted. Put the sound board down, played my sign-off Dad Requiem piece, closed it up, blew out the flame-thrower lamps and went back to the house and put myself to sleep.
I skipped the visit in July 2011 due to a cowardly refusal to cause the death of this magnificent piano by trying to tune it in the scorching heat.
I skipped the visit in October 2011 due to skyrocketed CHTs and oil leaks in Chloe as I limped to Elwood's Blue Tarp Blue Shield old Volkswagen Hospital.
This time, I sez, "screw it, I am getting old too, let's do it." I played the requisite several games of Gin Rummy with my departed dad's next-ex wife and assisted with starting the Yamaha four-wheeler and watched TV in the air-conditioning until they went to bed.
At 10:30PM, armed with a real piano tuning hammer (thank-you Amy!!), a lighter for the incredibly poorly behaved kerosene lamps, a Diet Coke, and the piano tuning fork gizmo, I bashed through the obstacles of junk and opened up the piano in the 120* heat. Under horrendous flickering and popping, I slowly tuned the 230 (minus two broken) strings. I was desperately hopeful for an hour or so until I got to the bass octaves. There, I discovered that this grand dame has finally gone crippled. No amount of teasing would keep the lower end in tune. So, like any good doctor, I got my ball peen hammer out of the car and a real Coke from the fridge and I slathered that anchor block with Sugary Coca Cola, waited a few minutes, and tapped the pins firmly into the anchor block. Such a bellowing from the piano, sounded like it had fallen out the window. "Sorry."
This tune would last only tonight, and not even that as some aborted recordings will attest. No saving it. The best I could do is this muddy experiment that I never got to "develop" or "polish". By the second run through, lower "E" had gone lower still B flat and the "F" string next to it let go with a snake hiss. Pulled it out, but the damper is a v that needs both strings, so the remaining F just sounded as long as it wanted. Put the sound board down, played my sign-off Dad Requiem piece, closed it up, blew out the flame-thrower lamps and went back to the house and put myself to sleep.