These new pianos are terrible!

[Frantic Freddie]

Many years ago I was a piano & organ salesman in a store that sold Steinways (in case you don't know,Steinway Pianos are one of the world's premier instruments,very expensive) & our customers tended to be well educated & well off.

Except for this woman.

She comes in & starts banging on the pianos & as I approach she's in front of a Steinway upright ($5000 in 1980!) & says to me "These new pianos are terrible! How could anyone buy one?"

I say "Ma'am,this is a Steinway,are you familiar with them? What seems to be the problem?"

"Well I can't sing with these like I can my piano at home"

A little perplexed,I ask her what brand of piano she has,she doesn't remember,but "It's much better than these awful things"

"What do you mean you can't sing with these?"

"My piano is so much better,these new ones,they're different,they make me sing too high"

*Got it,I know what she's talking about now,so I ask her* "Ma'am,how long have you had your piano?"

"20 years"

"And have you ever had your piano tuned?

"...they have to be tuned?"

"Yes ma'am,what has happened is your piano has dropped several steps in pitch over the years & is no longer in tune.Would you like me to schedule a tuning for you?"

"Not if it'll sound like these new things,how horrible! How could I sing then?"

I was finally able to ease her out of the store,all the while complaining about our terrible pianos.As soon as she's out of the store I turn around & my 2 CWs & me just fall down laughing

[Bright_Star]

Maybe she's the one that's out of tune....lol.

[fireheart]

Oh dear lord....if she was singing with an out-of-tune-piano......

A piano is not like a guitar or a violin-you can't have it in a different tuning and have it working.....>.> (some songs called for the E string on a guitar to be tuned higher or lower)

[dalesys]

My mother's piano (an old one) was a full note low, but pretty well in tune, when she got it.

Rather than spend years and years stretching it back up to standard pitch (and each string relaxing at a different rate) she just had it tuned* to itself.

We all knew mom was off!

*We couldn't afford a live-in piano tuner!

[XCashier]

I'm not musically inclined, but even I know you have to keep string instruments (including pianos) tuned! Twenty years without a tuning...sheesh, that poor thing's gotta sound horrid!

[Ben_Who]

Mum just gave me her vintage upright pianola...25 years without a tuning. I put in a piano roll, and OUCH.

The higher notes seem more out of tune than the rest, making it a million times worse...I noticed that on pianos that get more use, the middle notes go out first. If her piano gets a lot of mileage, she's been annoying neighbors and scaring cats for years...

[Frantic Freddie]

With real old pianos that haven't been tuned in a long time the tuning has to be brought up slowly,i.e.,over several tunings (like you said dalesys,it gets expensive!) & in a case where the piano spent most of it's life in a humid climate then is moved to a dry climate the pinblock can dry out to the point where oversized pins have to be installed,which gets really expensive!

Mum just gave me her vintage upright pianola...25 years without a tuning. I put in a piano roll, and OUCH.

The higher notes seem more out of tune than the rest, making it a million times worse...I noticed that on pianos that get more use, the middle notes go out first. If her piano gets a lot of mileage, she's been annoying neighbors and scaring cats for years...

Did you have to move it yourself? Those old players can weigh upwards of 900 pounds (that's a bit over 400 kgs for you furriners ),I know,I've moved more than a few back in the day.

Oh yeah,some info if you have an old piano: Most piano stores have a Blue Book,not for price,but for age.There's a serial # stamped in the wood in a hole in the harp (the metal frame) just open the top,with the brand & that you can find out when it was made.

Not all old pianos are valuable,in fact very few are unless they're a well-known name.Since the early 19th C there've been over 500 piano makers in the US alone!

[Beki710]

I don't think I'd like to hear her sing because surely she must be tone deaf to think that her piano works fine?! My parents have a piano that no one ever plays and it's not had a tuning as long as I've been around... and I'm 23!

[Chromatix]

Oddly enough, "piano tuner" is one of the traditional professions for the blind. Apparently they have better hearing than average to compensate. So when my parents had our piano tuned periodically, that was my first introduction to a guide dog...

[Dave1982]

You know, as soon as I read the part about Steinways, I knew the SC would have some old battered POS and think that it was better than a brand-new top of the line model

I remember a story on here a few years ago about an SC that went into a liquor store and went off aboiut how terrible a particular kind of win was. Someone had given the SC a bottle as a gift and the SC poured it out because she thought it was crap. Turns out that not only had it been an excellent bottle of expensive wine (to the point that the poster nearly wept for its loss), but the stuff the SC bought instead was the cheapest, most vile acidic stuff out there.

[ellie]

I hate seeing misinformed people make decisions. Granted I am totally tone deaf, but I do know the Steinway name and would trust the sound of that piano.

[Pagan]

Many years ago I was a piano & organ salesman in a store that sold Steinways (in case you don't know,Steinway Pianos are one of the world's premier instruments,very expensive) & our customers tended to be well educated & well off.

Many years ago, the NMSU Music Department bought 2 Bösendorfers. One was at the school, the other one somehow managed to wind up at my piano teacher's house. Her husband was the university's Pianist in Residence and was mentoring a prodigy*. I played recitals on it a couple of times and got absolutely spoiled by it.

*Said mentor's father actually complimented me on my playing after my last recital.

[Zaiida]

She must have our old piano. 20+ years and never been tuned. That thing must have sounded horrible but to our collective 2 and 4 year old ears it was fantastic. Cleared that side of the house of adults as soon as we sat down .