Randy Hayno asks for advice about tuning his Unika piano and the
difficulty of tuning it without the use of a keyboard.

My own experience is this.  Firstly it is imperative that you employ
a really competent and experienced piano tuner.  Mine is well used
to tuning a wide variety of unusual pianos including two without
keyboards.  Due to the pain of removing the piano from the back of a
Weber orchestrion it is also essential that the job is done right first
time.  To this end I would always recommend employing a tuner who uses
only one piece of specialist equipment, his ear.

I would never employ a piano tuner who used any piece of electronic
equipment, apart from one to determine the overall pitch of the piano,
and in the case of the Unika it MUST be tuned to A=435 Hz and not
A=440.  At A=440 you will never be able to tune the violins to match
the piano.  It is also necessary to block up the half blow rail before
removing or replacing the piano back.  This will prevent jamming or
damage of the action.

I had my Unika tuned a few months after delivery and again a year ago.
Since that last tuning it has stayed in perfect tune.  My tuner simply
pulls up on the whippens instead of pushing down on the keys.  A larger
force can easily be used if required.  It took a little longer than
usual but he had no real complaints afterwards.  I suppose he is used
to my unusual requests.

Good luck with your tuning.

Nicholas Simons, GB