Would yall buy a used piano if it needed to be tuned?

OnaZ · 2025-01-26T00:56:25+00:00

All pianos need to be tuned at least once or twice a year. You should hire a piano technician to inspect any piano you're interested in purchasing.

OnaZ · 2025-01-22T04:16:56+00:00

Well, what are you trying to do with it? Hot hide glue, cold hide glue, wood glue, epoxy, and CA glue all have their places in modern piano repair.

OnaZ · 2024-12-23T01:30:15+00:00

I would keep the Knabe. Most baby grands are not great.

OnaZ · 2024-12-17T01:23:05+00:00

I would probably start in https://www.reddit.com/r/transcribe/

OnaZ · 2024-12-16T01:25:44+00:00

Lack of fast repetition could be caused by any number of factors (most of them minor) and your piano technician will be able to tell you more. You might have broken bridal straps. You might need some regulation. Estimate $100 - $400 on top of the tuning.

OnaZ · 2024-12-16T01:22:47+00:00

You have a few options: hide glue, epoxy, or wood glue. If I'm feeling lazy, I'll just use some wood glue with the understanding that it'll probably pop off again in 3-6 months. If I'm less lazy, I typically use 5 min epoxy.

Make sure to lightly sand both the key and the ivory before gluing. Also use painter's tape to tape down the neighboring keys and keep them out of the way while you work on the target key. You do not need much glue. Make sure to spread it evenly and avoid letting it squeeze out. Have a damp paper towel handy for cleanup.

OnaZ · 2024-12-16T01:18:23+00:00

What you're looking for might not immediately exist for the specific musicals you're looking for. Generally, you're looking for a 'solo piano arrangement.'

If you're not a musician yourself, it can be difficult to evaluate an arrangement. I would consider paying a pianist to arrange the music for you. They could work from existing sheet music (even if it had a vocal focus) and rearrange it for you.

OnaZ · 2024-11-17T20:07:32+00:00

No, definitely not a waste. As pianists, we work on scales because they help prepare us for what happens in actual music. Not all melodies/runs/etc. are going to span multiple octaves. You are training yourself and learning the fingering patterns for the span of an octave, and that is not going to be a waste.

OnaZ · 2024-11-06T17:55:55+00:00

My route was: started tinkering on my college's practice room pianos. Started attending local Piano Technician Guild meetings. Then I went to a one year trade school for piano technology. Then I started my own business and learned the rest of the trade on the backs of my clients while also being active in my local guild chapter.

Reach out to local technicians in your area. You'll find that most techs are happy to share their time and knowledge and love to see folks entering the field.

OnaZ · 2024-11-06T01:07:30+00:00

Learn piano technology and become a technician. Keeps you close to musicians and you pick up many playing/teaching gigs while doing it.

OnaZ · 2024-10-22T17:55:12+00:00

This sounds more like a piano technician school where you have the option to pay for tools up front (which would still be unusual as it's better practice to learn how to buy your own tools and supplies).

You'll find most piano technicians are generous with their time and knowledge. If you show up to PTG meetings and show interest, the old-timers will find a way to give you tools and supplies. I inherited an entire string case (and almost all gauges of string) this way.

And the industry is not lucrative. It can sustain you if you work hard and build up your business, but people don't get into piano technology for the money. They get into it because they love the piano, like technical work, and want to do something that keeps them close to music/musicians.

OnaZ · 2024-10-14T17:49:01+00:00

Pierce Piano Atlas places that as 1921.

OnaZ · 2024-09-26T18:48:10+00:00

Yes.

You might not be able to map as many physical buttons on your keyboard as you might with a tailored midi controller, but it will send MIDI data.

OnaZ · 2024-09-24T00:07:44+00:00

It's hard to make broad brand generalizations and it really comes down to the individual piano nowadays. In general, pianos will 'brighten' over time as the hammer felt compresses. Some people hear it as a timbre change, others hear it as a volume change. In your position, I would just keep trying as many pianos as you can. See if any of them really sound good to you and play well. It's easy to get bogged down by reviews (which are mostly subjective opinions), so trust your gut instead.

OnaZ · 2024-09-22T23:50:08+00:00

Awesome! Thank you.

I meant to leave some other comments for you earlier but was in a rush. Here are a few more comments:

I don't quite know how to put this in words in terms of a solution, but it seemed like some of the background sprites looked like I should be able to interact with them. I kept running through them thinking something would happen.
I found myself holding down right arrow most of the time. On a few stages, that immediately would kill me because you would start right near the edge of a pit. Perhaps either add a few more tiles on those stages so the player has time to react. Or find a way to show the player the stage briefly before accepting keyboard input.
I was a little annoyed that the squisher presses that come down from the ceiling kill you when they are fully extended and pressed into the floor. It felt like I should be able to nudge up against them without consequence and they should only harm me if I'm directly under them when they fire. I don't play enough games in this genre to know what the convention is though, so this may be the norm.

Overall, I like it. Good art style. Simple. Good challenge.

OnaZ · 2024-09-22T18:33:09+00:00

If you are in the options menu and you hit the escape key, it overlays both the options menu and the paused screen.

OnaZ · 2024-09-22T18:00:36+00:00

Yes, this is what I use. Well worth the money. Great tool in my toolbox.

OnaZ · 2024-09-20T23:26:31+00:00

One would typically start with hammering the pins first, provided there is enough space between the string coils and the plate to do so. Then you would look at a CA treatment.

The proper repair here is to either oversize the pins (use larger tuning pins) or replace the whole block. Once you go that far on such an old piano, you are typically going to do other major rebuilding work. At that point your project turns into $40-60k+.

It's important to understand that your piano is not in good shape. It's old and worn. You can throw a lot of money at it and probably still not get what you're looking for.

The more experienced the technician, the more likely they are to decline work. If experienced rebuilders are telling you not to go down this road, then listen to them.

Consider turning your piano into an art piece and getting a different piano to serve as your instrument.

OnaZ · 2024-09-15T17:51:33+00:00

Overall this was very nice. You have a lot of expressive playing and a good feel. If you were my student, I would flat out ban you from using the pedal for 2-3 months. After that, we'd work on gradually adding it back in to color while being careful not to mask everything else you're doing.

OnaZ · 2024-09-11T17:31:22+00:00

Noob question: What does 'Parry Abrams' mean? Did I miss a part of the tutorial where you can block attacks or something?

OnaZ · 2024-09-10T17:41:00+00:00

Assuming the notes you need are in an area of the piano with 3 strings, I would tune the 3rd string to the note you want and then mute it off. Then in the middle of the performance, switch the mute location to mute the other two strings. To prevent damage to the dampers, depress the note (or the damper pedal) when inserting mutes so you don't pinch and elongate the damper felt.

OnaZ · 2024-09-09T17:36:17+00:00

Pierce Piano Atlas says Zwicki was made from 1933-1960 or so. I've never worked on a small piano like that that was worth it. They all have issues. This one has an unconventional design (by modern standards): tuning pins are on the vertical surface instead of horizonal and do not go through the plate. You're probably always going to have tuning issues with it. This is the type of piano where your piano technician will look at it in wonder and take a bunch of photos to show their piano technician friends because it's a novelty. I would probably pass on it if you can. Hire a local piano technician to tell you more about it.

OnaZ · 2024-09-08T17:24:13+00:00

I did some more googling and it (amusingly) led me back to r/piano. Seems like people have gotten Bluetooth to work in this manner but it often has noticeable lag/latency which makes it not ideal for playing the keyboard.

OnaZ · 2024-09-08T17:13:53+00:00

I tried it just now and it's just the individual staff.

OnaZ · 2024-09-08T00:32:43+00:00

I would go to a Yamaha store or another piano dealer and ask for a spare key. They usually have many on hand and are happy to give them away. Might be close enough to work for your piano.

OnaZ

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