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By: Kevin Kearns
It is a pleasure to report that a service received exceeded one’s most optimistic hopes and expectations - Barrie’s work on the repair and tuning of an elderly STECK baby grand certainly warrants this accolade. The piano appears to be about a hundred years old and it had, to say the least, been neglected – indeed over the last six years it had been located in an unoccupied property. Apart from the many other problems which required attention, a large number of the keytops had become displaced and attempts had been made to re-fix them with an inappropriate adhesive.
None of this phased Barrie. He took the Action to his workshop; he replaced all the keytops and undertook all the required repairs. Within three weeks Barrie had completed this work; he then reinstalled the Action, cleaned the frame to its former glory and tuned the piano.
This was a challenging undertaking, which Barrie completed with consummate professional skill – and considerable good humour. To say that his client is delighted, would be a very substantial understatement. One was fortunate to have had him recommended by a professional in his own field. Barrie has earned appreciation and the warmest thanks of all concerned in this project.
Kevin Kearns
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Tuning Temperaments
How many piano tuning temperaments are there?
There are countless variations, but most fall within three major categories;
1. Meantone, which generally concentrated the dissonance into a few unusable intervals (often called "wolf" intervals), so that the others could be Just. These are often called "restrictive" tunings, since there are certain intervals that are not usable. Good intervals are really good, bad ones are really bad. The Meantone era was approx. 1400-1700
2. Well-Temperament, which gives more consonance to the most often used keys, and more dissonance to the lesser used ones. Though not equal, these tunings are "non-restrictive" because all intervals can be used. The intervals range from Just to barely acceptable. Well-temperament refers to a genre, not a specific tuning. The Well-Tempered era is approx. 1700-1880.
3. Equal Temperament, which spreads the dissonance equally among all intervals.
There is no difference in consonance or dissonance between any keys, thus, there are no good ones or bad ones. Equal temperament represents a complete average. Dates of its acceptance are debated, but there is ample evidence that it was widely available by 1900 and is the predominate tuning on keyboards, today.
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