•Hi Don! Greetings from Germany. I'm a little bit astonished at your question, since the scale usually is printed below the strings on the Triola. How bad is the state of your instrument? Anyways, your question is answered by John Wolff's Triola article in the 2000.03.09 MMD. [ http://www.mmdigest.c...

•Hi. Today I purchased a barrel piano from eBay. It functions mechanically, but is horrifically out of tune. There are notes above the pins holding in the strings but I was hoping for some additional guidance. 1. What octaves does it have? 2. What is the bottom C, C1, C2, C3 and so on? 3. What is a ...

•We had talked about these before in MMD, I think. Faventia barrel pianos are basically a toy version of the old street pianos. They do not hold their tuning -- period! You can tune whatever note is way out of tune, but generally it is best to leave it alone, as that is simply how they sound. Do not...

•Why, I have attached a copy of the tuning chart for the Faventia barrel piano. The low A is 217 Hz. The piano is tuned to A-435. I have "restored" mine to the extent possible. I was lucky that the pin block was still good. I did replace pins and put on new strings, having the bass strings wound by ...

•I am looking for resources or guidance on how to tune the small metal pipes on an antique Serinette (Bird Box) that I am refurbishing. See attached photo. It appears that the pipes produce a diatonic scale with 10 notes, C7 through E8. The problem is that the top three notes are very flat and I can...

•[ Joel Cluskey wrote in 220130 MMDigest > the top three notes are very flat ... > https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/22/01/30/220130_083107_20220130_013632177_iOS.jpg Joel, Looking at the picture, the pipes B7, C8, and D all appear to be the same length. They may be replacements. Assuming that th...

•Hi Jim, Thanks for your help. You can't see it from the pictures, but the mouth of the pipes are at different locations in the shaft and that is what gives them the different pitches. I had another response from Walter Dahler of Switzerland and he said he has restored more than 10 of these. The typ...

The logarithmic arithmetic developed by Napier and Briggs in the 17th century was soon applied to tuning the musical scale: the result was the "Equal Temperment Tuning", which was adopted immediately by composers who enjoyed lots of key-changes. True, the new tuning algorithm didn't sound quite as s...

Brother Doug Rhodes, our member in Victoria, B.C., wrote to me that a sterling example of Just Tuning is the sound of the air horns on a train locomotive. > It's a minor triad in Canada -- speeding trains have long been > recognized in Canada as dangerous, and deserving of the ominous, > threatening...

The 'stops' mentioned are wooden 'sliders' -- wooden sliding strips located in the pipe toe-board, beneath the pipe feet. The strips are drilled with holes which, in the 'on' position, correspond with the wind path from the chest up to the pipe(s). Slid sideways to the 'off' position the holes are m...

Last time we had our piano tuned the tuner pointed out that some notes were farther out of tune than usual because the tuning pins had become loose as the wood they are screwed into has aged. He said that there are two ways to remedy the problem, one being over-sized pins, and the other being some s...

Troy Taylor wrote that he has a Melville Clark upright with sloppy pins and I wanted to respond. There is a product on the market called "Pintite" that restorers sometimes drop into the pinblock to swell the wood. It is a quick and easy fix, and initially it works. But a far superior answer is to re...

Tom Steuer wrote: > There is a product on the market called "Pintite" that restorers > sometimes drop into the pinblock to swell the wood. It is a quick > and easy fix, and initially it works. But a far superior answer is > to restring the string, or even the section, with an oversize pin, > rather ...

A friend claims that there is a correct way to use Pin-Tite. He says that while a single application can appear to work, it has only affected the top quarter inch or so of the pinblock. Clearly, if it is to be effective, it must work on the wood the length of the pin. Tilt your upright in a place wh...

At the risk of sounding like a "hack," I must respectfully disagree with Charles Flaum and Tom Steuer on the merits of PinTite, but I have proof that what they claim about this particular product is mistaken. First of all, I really appreciate the willingness of rebuilders to stand up for what they f...

I am glad to see the recent discussion on the use of pin tightening solutions. My piano tuner has recommended that I use this method on my piano, but there looks to be a difference of opinions on the subject. Peter Neilson was told the right way was to apply it weekly for six months, I was told ever...

Craig Brougher writes: > The worst thing that can be done to a grand is to pound the pins down > into an old, dry plank when they start getting loose. Unless the piano > action is removed and the old plank supported very well, this will > destroy the plank every single time by cracking it through it...

As a retired tuner and player technician, I can say that any piano that I ever tuned which had been treated with a pin tightening agent, made the pianos very difficult to tune due to a certain amount of sponginess that the chemical created in the pin block. It was sort of like tuning a piano with pi...

I've followed the articles on loose tuning pins with interest but find one more condition that has not been addressed. Occasionally, a piano will come off the assembly line that has a few loose pins. Here's what I do. Preliminary action for steel strings: Loosen the 'bad' pin and the string's corres...

Charles Flaum and Bruce Clark each had some noteworthy comments about loose pins that I wish to further elaborate on because this is a subject so very important, and because it is so difficult to let your friends know where you are coming from via one or two letters. Charles Flaum wrote: >While it i...