PTA

HISTORY OFPIANOTUNING II

COVID-19PIANO KEYCLINIC

Inside

RNCM PIANOSPECTACULAR

June 2020

Marianne Baileyplays Tetris witheight concert grands

PLUS President's Report 2020 | Council Meeting | How to build a website

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STARTINGYOUR PIANOTUNER CAREER

5 Editor's noteJosh Mcloughlin

Contents

6 President's Report Barry Caradine

10 Covid-19 key clinicAndrew Giller

12 Piano SpectacularMarianne Bailey

16 History of piano tuning part II Gill Green

20 Lead corrosion in pianoactions Barry Caradine

23 Creating a websiteChristopher Hacking

30 Damper grub screwBenjamin E. Nolan

27 Starting your careerTimothy Barnes

31 Member SpotlightPeter Metcalfe & Ross Horsey

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PTA News is the Newsletter of the Pianoforte Tuners’ Association. Allviews expressed are those of the contributors, and do not necessarilyreflect those of the PTA or the editorial team. To advertise in PTA News, at very reasonable rates, please contact:advertising@pianotuner.org.uk or secretary@pianotuner.org.uk. The deadline for submissions for the next PTA News is August 8th.Please send text and images separately (please do not embed images in aword document) to editor@pianotuner.org.uk or by post to PTA NewsEditor, 38 Cowgate, Norwich, NR3 1SY.

8 EC Meeting Report30 May 2020

Cover image: RNCM Piano Spectacular. Credit: Roscoe Rutter

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Editor's noteJosh Mcloughlin

Vacancy:PTATreasurer

The PTA has an excitingopportunity for an enthusiasticbookkeeper to join the ExecutiveCouncil as Treasurer. This position is well suited to anindividual who has experience inbookkeeping, cash flow analysis,and reporting for a smallbusiness. Remuneration: £1570 per year.

Responsibilities are to provide bi-monthly reports and financialinformation to the EC, manageday-to-day PTA income andexpenditure, and liaise with thePTA Accountant and Auditor toprovide annual accounts. Anyone interested in taking onthis role please contact Annettewho can provide more details:secretary@pianotuner.org.uk.

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As Covid-19 restrictions ease, it looksincreasingly likely that things will not goback to 'normal' anytime soon. Each of us willhave to change the way we work and interactwith colleagues, friends, and family for sometime to come. Indeed, the crisis hasunfortunately postponed the AGM until2021: for full details of the vote see thereport for the Executive Council Meeting of30 May 2020. However, I hope you agree thatthis PTAN hosts an especially rich variety ofcontent on a range of different topics. Our wonderful cover feature is MarianneBailey's fascinating account of the JohnWilson Piano Spectacular at the RoyalNorthern College of Music—a welcomereminder of a world in which concert hallswere filled with the sound of music. Andrew Giller offers the fruits of hisresearch into how best to clean both plasticand ivory keys to prevent the spread of thevirus, whilst Barry Caradine dived into bothscientific literature and the PTG forum to getto the bottom of lead corrosion in pianoactions. These more technical articles are theperfect complement to the second instalmentof Gill Green's fascinating history of pianotuning.

We have some useful business advice, too.Christopher Hacking delivers an invaluableguide to the often perplexing task of buildingand promoting a website. MeanwhileTimothy Barnes, a registered pianotechnician across the pond in NorthCarolina, provides some advice for thosestarting their career in the trade, in the firstof a series of articles designed to offerinsights into growing and managing yourbusiness all the way through to retirement. Benjamin Nolan provides some light relief,recounting an escape from a tight situationinvolving involving a missing grub screw, awheelie bin, and a security gate! Finally, we welcome Peter Metcalfe andRoss Horsey to the Member Spotlightfollowing their co-option to the EC in May. From August, the PTAN will hostclassified ads, offering a great way formembers to sell tools and services. For moreinfo, contact Roberta. I thank all our contributors for theirwonderful writing. Please do send in yourarticles, comments, feedback, and letters toeditor@pianotuner.org.uk.All the best,Josh

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At the AGM it is traditional for the Presidentto give a report of how work has progressedduring the past year and give thanks to thosethat have helped. As the AGM andConvention have been cancelled, I havedecided that I should present my 2020President's Report here rather than my usualPresident Writes. 2019-20 has been a verychallenging year and I cannot thank those onthe Executive Council enough for workingthrough the problems that have arisen. Manythanks must go to Andrew Giller, SeanMcLoughlin, Steve Droy, Lewis Flisher, MikeSyson and, of course, especially to Roberta,who has worked tirelessly to help me, as wellas organise our Annual Convention, whichwe will all have to wait until next year toenjoy. Annette, as always, has continued to workhard to make our Association function andcame under enormous pressure due to theevents brought about by a few. I thank herfor continuing to support us in her role asSecretary and Treasurer, especially this pastyear. The year started well, with thecompletion of our new website bringing anew and professional image. The public-facing part of this is finished but even nowwork on the background area is not and thissurfaced with the new online subscriptionrenewal. Some of you could not get it to workand, despite our best efforts, we cannot findout why all of this happened. As with a lot ofthings, we are relying upon the expertise ofothers to help us and I am beginning toquestion this, so I appeal to anyone with anyexperience in this area to come forward tohelp us. All of this needs to be reviewed and

President'sReport 2020

re-designed if necessary, as we need topersevere and hopefully this comingDecember it will all work better. I must thankAnnette for working her way through theseproblems and helping you all to (eventually)pay your subs. As usual, there are those that work in thebackground to thank. The Test SubCommittee and Examiners, AndrewJamieson, Marianne Bailey, Ben Nolan, RickOhlendorf, Brian Frost, Mark Beglin, FinlayFraser and Test Coordinator Tom Read. Brianmust also be thanked for his work attendingEuropiano events and producing the PTADirectory.  John Lambert has worked asComplaints Officer, Martin Backhousecontinues to look after our library, PeterMetcalfe has helped Mike Syson find newMembers, and Andrew Day posts onFacebook. All must be thanked for their time,help, and work to make our Associationbetter for us all. After a very successful convention last Maywe also had two successful training days inLeeds and Manchester. These were verypopular, and I must thank Andrew Giller fororganising these as well as the companies,Besbrode Pianos, Vale Pianos , Schimmel andForsyths, for their support by hosting us. This year did see events unfold that werevery unfortunate and I am afraid personallyvery hurtful and disheartening. Thoseinvolved have now, unfortunately, resignedor stood down. I say ‘unfortunately’deliberately, as the whole episode was ademonstration of everything the PTA doesnot stand for. All organisations havedifferences of opinion, these can and should

Barry Caradine

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easily co-exist and not become personal anddetrimental. We must never forget the veryreason for our organisation’s existence: ‘Tobring together piano tuners and techniciansfor mutual benefit and protection’ and ‘Toprovide the strength of association which isnecessary to safeguard and represent thetuning profession.’ Late in our Council year, we had thepleasure of welcoming Josh, our newPTANews Editor. He has worked hard tobring the appearance more up-to-date andcreate some alternative articles. I lookforward to seeing how his ideas develop. Joshhas asked for feedback from you all and, ofcourse, welcomes comment and articleswhich can be sent to him directly. 2020 sawone major change: the adoption of Skype forExecutive Council meetings. This wascriticised by some, but travelling to and frommeetings was becoming increasingly difficultand I felt that this move was necessary tokeep people involved. Given this, we werealready working remotely and COVID-19 didnot affect the running of our Association. Ithas also meant that, after an appeal, manyothers have decided to join the Council and Iam pleased to say that for the first time inmy Presidency we will have a full ExecutiveCouncil for 2020-21. Thank you to those whohave come forward to help.

The final part of the year was marred byCOVID-19. This saw the cancellation of atrip to the Bechstein factories (and I mustthank Terry Lewis and all at Jaques SamuelPianos for organising the trip) as well as ourConvention. More importantly, it alsobrought unusual and uncertain times for allof us. The Executive Council set up aHardship Fund to offer a little assistance andsome did request this. The amount wassmall, but I hope it helped. I also tried tohelp by providing information with regularbulletins to make sense of developments. Imust thank the many of you that took thetime to thank me for these bulletins as itreally made me realise that all the work thePTA creates is worthwhile and highlightedthe importance of the first PTA PolicyStatement, which I must re-quote:  'To bringtogether piano tuners and technicians formutual benefit and protection'.  This should not just happen in dark andtroubling times but should be rememberedas the very reason why we, the PTA, exists.With this in mind, the new ExecutiveCouncil and I will move forward and workhard over the next year to improve ourAssociation for the benefit of all. Barry CaradinePTA President

President's Report2020

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The meeting started 10:40, with no apologiesfor absence.  It was agreed that the four ECcandidates should be co-opted onto council.The minutes of the last meeting wereagreed.  Matters arisingThe Addis/Chedgy Student Fund contains£255. The AGM vote results were: Zoom AGMMay 2020 - 22.58%, AGM October 2020 -24.73 %, AGM May 2021 - 52.69%. Annette Summers was appointed PTASecretary and Treasurer. At Mrs Summers’request, the remuneration will remainunchanged.  The Association currently only has oneTrustee. After discussing various options, itwas agreed the status quo was the bestoption until the 2021 AGM.  The Treasurer’s report was agreed andAnnette requested that a replacement for therole of Treasurer be sought.

ExecutiveCouncil MeetingAttendeesBarry Caradine (President) Officers: Andrew Giller (Vice President), Annette Summers (Secretary/Treasurer), Shaun McLoughlin (Trustee).Elected EC members (AGM 2019): Mike Syson, Roberta Caradine.EC Candidates: Ross Horsey, Peter Metcalfe, Ben Nolan, Paul Shearman.Lewis Flisher (Honorary Council Member).Observers: Robin Anderson, Marianne Bailey (Chair of Test subcommittee), Andrew Day, Ken Forrest, Paul Fox, Rick Ohlendorf & Roger Staines.

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30 May 2020

Full minutes can be found in themembership area ofwww.pianotuner.org.uk

Next meeting: 25th July 202010:30hrs via Zoom.

Correspondence Two resignations had been received. AndrewJamieson resigned as Chair of TestSubcommittee, citing unhappiness with thedecisions of EC and the speed with whichthings were changing. Steve Droy resigned asa member of the Executive Council as he wasunhappy with the lack of progress beingmade.  There have been no membership tests, nofuture dates can be confirmed and there arecurrently 3 applicants waiting.  Annette had received £450 donationstowards the hardship fund. It was proposedby Barry Caradine and agreed that theHardship Fund become a permanent feature.Ross Horsey offered to look into how thismight be set up and administered withAndrew Giller. Ross also proposed that, giventhe lower than expected take up of the fund,a second bite of the cherry be offered tothose for whom the need was greatest. It wasagreed £200 be offered using the samecriteria as before.

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Delegated dutiesAdvertising PR: Shaun McLoughlin, PaulShearman.Advertising PTA News/Directory: RobertaCaradine. Complaints Officer: Matthew Gough; Panel:Ross Horsey, Mike Syson, Roberta CaradineCPD: Andrew Giller, Paul Shearman.Convention: Roberta Caradine, ShaunMcLoughlin.Directory: vacant position.EuroPiano: Brian Frost.Library: Martin Backhouse (TBC).Membership Test Sub Committee: MarianneBailey (Chairperson). There has beenextensive work since Andrew’s resignationwith a full report available in the minutes.Their next meeting will be held on 13/06/20. New membership: Mick Syson and PeterMetcalfe along with those who came forwardfollowing a request for assistance have madegreat headway in compiling a list of UKtuners and technicians not involved in thePTA. The role of this group is one of themost important areas of work for the PTAand once the economic environmentimproves it is hoped that a significant pushcan be made to engage with those in this list. PTA News Printed & Audio: Josh Mcloughlin(Editor), Roberta Caradine (Audio). Allgeneral contributions gratefully received,technical articles are starting to becommissioned and work on the next editionis well underway.

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Job opening: technian/tuner neededin Malaga, Spain

Carlos Fernández of Royal Pianos is seeking a piano tuner / technician forhis piano shop in Malaga, Spain. Interested members should send a CV to

carlos@royalpianos.com. Please visit royalpianos.com to learn more.

Executive Council MeetingWebsite and Social media: Barry Caradine,Andrew Day (Facebook), Colin Crawford(Twitter).Student Liaison: Paul Shearman. This is anew duty to address issues raised by SteveDroy regarding the Student experiencebetween joining the PTA and passing toApprenticeship and the MAP program. Any other businessZoom was discussed as the platform forfuture meetings. The costs to enable call outto those without internet were deemedprohibitive and those affected werepragmatic that they would be excludedunless they organised their home IT.Observers were invited to make comments.Thanks for the work of EC and the Covid-19updates.

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Covid-19pianokey clinicAndrew Giller

As lockdown measures are eased, tuners andtechnicians are slowly returning to work ormaking preparations to. We must changehow we work in clients’ homes and the advicewe give about piano hygiene care. The bigquestion is the keyboard. The virus cansurvive for up to three days on certainsurfaces but touching the piano keyboard is adaily activity for many of us, particularlythose at work and receiving pupils in musicinstitutions. Key CleaningSince the outbreak, this question has beenwell-researched. Yet, some of the advice isconflicting! Makers have even spoken to theirkeyboard manufacturers to establish exactexpertise on cleaning the tops and blacksharps. On the whole, the advice distinctlyrecommends diluted alcohol-baseddisinfectants, wipes or sprays for the familyof plastic and older nitrocellulose keycoverings, and  not  to use bleach-baseddisinfectants or any product containingcitrus.

I would suggest this is also fine for later,post-WWII ivory keyboards but not for olderpianos and early keyboards that risk damageto susceptible glue joins which often bearthinner ivory worn by years of playing andthe general fragility of parts. Some older setsof ebony keys were finished in stain andlacquer, which may be dissolved by a harshcleaner. There is the technique of applyingthe cleanser to consider as well, as we allknow any liquid introduced to the keyboardcan lead to faults such as swelling ordisturbing glue joins. Plastic - synthetic polymer key surfacesStandard (Isopropyl Alcohol) antibacterialwipes and spray are safe for plastic andevaporate quickly. Use products with 60–70%alcohol content. If using a spray, spray onto adisposable towel first, away from the piano,before wiping. After use, bin the towel orwipe immediately. Follow up with a dry toweland never leave any liquids on the piano orkeys. Wash your hands before and after theprocess for at least 30 seconds.

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Covid-19 piano key clinicIvory cleaningCareful treatment is required, especially forolder instruments. Use your discretion withregards the age and condition of the ivorytops and fronts, and any ‘coloured’ ebonysharps. The first procedure can be used on a‘modern’ ivory keyboard deemed in goodcondition. A trial key is recommended first.With all other keyboards, the traditionalmethod is recommended: a mild, warm soapywater mix sparingly applied by a lightlydampened cloth. Again, this must beimmediately and thoroughly dried with papertowels and all discarded. Soap is effective butwithout the risk of long-term damage toivory posed by chemical cleaners. SummaryGenerally, it is far better to pull out a grandpiano action to fully access the keys withremoval of the key slap rail, and again withan upright by removing the upper case partsand nameboard rail. It is advised to keep thepiano lid closed at all times when not in use.There is no quick and easy way to clean akeyboard and achieve a 100% virus-freeresult. Continue with regular hand washing,follow updated Covid-19 advice, and suggestclients wash hands before and after they playthe piano. Piano supply houses are providingspecialist cleaning products for Covid-19.Several shops and makers have conductedinnovative research to formulate their owndisinfectant cleaners.   Andrew Giller

Sources https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/49a9/563e245851b385148768ab10f96d9c3b95b9.pdf www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/science-soap-kills-coronavirus-alcohol-based-disinfectants  www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html www.pianoeducation.org/pnohygen.html www.pianostreet.com/blog/articles/keep-your-piano-keyboard-clean-from-viruses-10308/ www.steinway.com/news/features/utilty/cleaning-your-piano www.fazioli.com/en/news-events/how-clean-and-sanitize-keyboard-fazioli-pianos www.coachhousepianos.co.uk/product/piano-key-wipes/ www.ptg.org/covid-19 www.pianistmagazine.com/blogs/how-to-disinfect-your-piano/ www.total-piano-care.com/Corona-Virus-COVID-19-Piano-Care.html

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John WilsonPianoSpectacularMarianne Bailey

John Wilson at the RNCM Piano Spectacular. Credit: Roscoe Rutter

Back in February, in what seems like adistant world—a time when concerts were aneveryday occurrence—I was required toprepare the pianos for the fourth “PianoSpectacular” Royal Northern College ofMusic (RNCM). Organised by RNCM legendJohn Wilson, the event saw internationally-renowned pianists join forces with no fewerthan eight grand pianos on the stage of theRNCM Concert Hall, raising funds for theJohn Wilson Fellowship in Accompaniment. This was my second “Piano Spectacular”,which takes place every 5 years on John’sbirthday. For his eightieth, John was joinedby a stellar cast of classical pianists, plus theirrepressible improviser Harry “The Piano”Harris. There can’t be many establishmentswhere sufficient numbers of pianos for anevent like this are available in-house.

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Six of the eight pianos required were RNCMinstruments (3 x Steinway Model Ds and 3 xSteinway Model Bs), part of the large fleet Iam responsible for as Head Technician.Forsyth’s Music in Manchester generouslyprovided the remainder: two Schimmelconcert grands. Preparations began well in advance, withthe six RNCM pianos tuned to the same pitchin the preceding weeks, with careful checksmade to rectify deviations due to humiditychanges in the building. I keep the two mainconcert hall Steinway Ds matched to eachother, and selected our four-year-old D asthe “lead” (reference) piano, to which theothers would be match-tuned, one by one, asthey were brought into the performancespace. The 3 Steinway Bs and

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Piano Spectacular

our other D would be brought in from aroundthe building on the morning of the event. The day was long and started early. Iarrived at 06:30 am to tune the lead pianoand the second D, which had been used for aperformance of Saint-Saëns piano concertothe night before. Then began the job ofdirecting backstage staff in matters such asremoving, marking, and storing lids, beforebringing each piano in, one at a time, next tothe “lead” piano, for me to match thetuning. Thanks to careful preparation andadvance notice given to Forsyth's of thepitch we needed, all eight were alreadyreasonably close, with only minoradjustments needed. The nine-footers allmatched pretty well and the very slightanomalies presented by the slightly smallerBs were easily dealt with. Positioning the pianos after tuning waslike an advanced game of Tetris. I hadidentified the order they should be broughtin, to comply with the stage set-up diagramprovided.

Yet, as the stage area filled up, manoeuvringthese leviathans became ever more difficult.Of course, the whole enterprise is very mucha team effort and required the involvementof four backstage staff who I know well andtrust. This is one of the main benefits ofworking in a conservatoire and also one ofthe main differences from working in thedomestic sector, where working relations areusually more occasional. Regular contactwith a team working together for the successof events like this is an aspect of the rolethat I particularly enjoy. We took an afternoon break, at whichpoint rehearsals took place—but I wanted tohear the results of my efforts. What a sound!Just when you think surely there can’t be anymore power, they built it up even more to athunderous roar... Finlandia never soundedlike this before! After the rehearsal, havingmade sure the pianists were happy, I enlisteda student to play the lead piano, because itwas no longer possible to move pianos nearenough for me to work alone.

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Steinway Model Bs lined up for tuning

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Marianne Bailey

Getting to know students and followingtheir progress is another fantastic aspect ofmy job. I asked a student I knew would besensitive and responsive to help and, underinstruction, he provided an excellentreference for me to work to. By the time rehearsals had over-run, I hadjust over an hour to check everythingthrough before doors at 18:30. Usually, thatwould be pushing it for one piano in aconcert situation, but eight!? That’s 704notes—which someone informed me equatesto over 16,000 individual strings. Checkswere a little hasty but, reassuringly, littleneeded doing. The interval check—just 20minutes—was even hastier, but I managed toget around all eight even so! The concert was a sell-out, so well-respected are John and his assembled cast of“colossi” pianists. All eight pianos were—probably to everyone’s relief!— only playedtogether for roughly half the concert, withsolos and duos for the remainder and a veryentertaining half-hour with Harry Harris inthe middle for light relief.

The auditorium of the Royal Northern College of Music

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It was probably the single most joyous anduplifting occasion I’ve had the privilege tobe involved with; a fantastic atmosphere anda prolonged standing ovation from the fullhouse at the end was testament to how muchthe event was enjoyed by the audience andartists alike. It's extremely unusual for us pianotechnicians to be included in the closingvotes of thanks. But it was gratifying, at theend of a very long 17-hour day, to bepersonally thanked by compère JohnBrunning as he closed proceedings to anenormous round of applause from theaudience—and then presented with a verynice bottle of wine! Occasions such as this might seem adistant memory for now, and I am missingthe live music experience horrendously. Butmy sincere hope is that before too long thelockdown and its associated restrictions willbe distant memories themselves and we’ll betalking about that strange time back in 2020when the concerts halls went silent. Marianne Bailey

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History ofpiano tuning IIGill Green

Prior to the advent of the piano, mostmusicians tuned their own instruments. Thiswas a necessary part of owning one; to callsomeone in to tune a harpsichord wouldhave been as preposterous an idea as callingsomeone in to tune a violin for aprofessional violinist. A combination offactors made the harpsichord far easier totune than the piano: there was generallyonly one string per note, and where therewere more they were easily isolated by use ofthe stops, while the strings were at a farlower tension than those of the piano. Atfirst ownership of the instruments waslimited to richer families who employedmusicians, or to musicians themselves -either way, the musicians ended up tuningthe instruments. However, the setting of temperamentsproved more difficult, particularly EqualTemperament: the Pythagorean commameaning that pure intervals alone beingused would result in a

'wolf' interval, wherein the beats 'left over'from tuning the pure intervals accumulatedin one very discordant interval—generallythat between F# and B. Equal temperamenttook over from mean tone tuning, making allkeys pleasant to play in rather than arestricted number, but was more difficult forthe amateur to tune, and as more and moreamateurs were beginning to owninstruments, tuning was becoming a taskcarried out by professionals. Rimbaultmentions the tuning of equal temperamentin the chapter 'On Tuning' in his 1860history of the Pianoforte that equaltemperament:

is now universally adopted throughoutEurope. Its inestimable advantage is thatit enables us to employ all the 12 majorand minor scales with equal freedom,and without a fear of offending the ear inany of them more than in another; thusgiving unlimited room of play to all thewonders of modern harmony. [1]

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The social historian Arthur Loesser wrote ofclaviers that:

Gill Green

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[They] do not present the perpetually acuteproblem of the stringed or wind instruments- namely, that of making the true pitch. Akey marks it ready-made, and any infant canpress down a light lever. It is true that a clavier must be tuned inadvance, but the spread of the instrumentamong the minimally musical led to thecurious consequence that the tuner and theplayer were more and more rarely the sameperson. It is hard to imagine the most primitiveplayer of a fiddle or guitar who did not knowhow to pull up his own strings to theirproper pitch, but among clavier tinklers thisincompetence became the rule. Thecomplication of the tempered tuning mayhave added to the difficulty.[2]

Loesser was referring to the late 18thcentury, when ownership of the clavier (ageneric term for a harpsichord) wasbecoming common for the furthering of adaughter's education and, more importantly,eligibility for marriage. By the time of QueenVictoria's accession, Britain was consumedby piano fever. As early as 1800, the piano'sbattle with the harpsichord seems to benearing its end. Rosamond Harding notesthat "for pianoforte" in large print on sheetmusic precedes the worlds "or harpsichord"in smaller letters by this time, implying thepiano's burgeoning supremacy.[3] Even the Broadwoods themselves areknown to have been involved in tuning.Broadwoods have in their possession apainting from around 1744 which portraysBurkat Shudi tuning a harpsichord said tohave been made by the firm for Frederick theGreat.[4] Rimbault mentions that 'TheMessrs Broadwood possess an interestingportrait of the Founder of their firm in theact of tuning the King of Prussia'sharpsichord'.[5] {Ed: see April PTAN, p.12}.Piano tuning was a recognised job in thepiano factories by the beginning of the 19thcentury, and two of Broadwood'sjourneymen fought a duel on Primrose Hill

in 1809 over the tuning of a piano.[6] By1834, Henry Fowler Broadwood was runningthe business, having taken 'instruction intuning, in which branch of the pianoforteindustry his father, James Broadwood,excelled'.[7] In 1838 Henry's uncle, ThomasBroadwood, wrote to him about a wealthyclient's complaints regarding a Victoriagrand piano which 'does not and will notstand in tune played or not played on,although he has got an experienced Tuner toTune it ...'. Thomas sent Merison, 'not beingable to spare Murray or Wilkins as well.'[8]This would imply that Broadwoods had arelatively large tuning department of at leastthree men by this time. John Broadwood had been working on thegrand piano as long as 1783, and his friend,Robert Stodart, had used the word 'Grand'for the first time on a patent application in1777.[9] The advent of the bigger squarepianos and the grand pianos definitelydiscouraged all but the bravest piano ownerfrom tuning their own instruments and thecareer of piano tuner was born.

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History of piano tuning 

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The growth in private ownership of pianoshad created the need for tuners. When only afew people owned pianos, typically the majormakers such as Broadwood and Longmanand Broderip would have sent out tunersfrom their own services and tuningdepartment. But once ownership becamemore widespread, demand for tuners grewfaster than the piano firms could supplythem. Loesser cites remarks from a Germanwriter, Bartold Fritz, in his 1757 bookAnweisung, wie man Claviere, Clavecins, undOrgeln 1757:

there are persons who live in the countryand cannot always get hold of a tuningmaster. There are music lovers in citieswho would like to undertake this exercise... there are a lot of teachers ... who havenever had instruction in proper tuning ...

and goes on to say that:

the art of tuning never did catch up with thesale of instruments, especially not after thepianoforte developed its tensions andcomplications. Normally, tuning became aspecial skill after the middle of the 18thcentury and a separate occupation in the19th.[10]

The tuner worked in the factory but was notyet regarded as a factory worker. A plate inDavid Wainwright's book (pictured, above)shows a tuner at work in Broadwood'sfactory in 1842.[11] He wears far smarterclothes than the other men at work in thepicture; although he is wearing an apron, hewears a dark jacket over the top and, ratherthan the caps worn by the others, has a tophat sitting on a frock coat folded neatly onan adjacent stool. This would imply that his

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Gill Green

Citations [1] E.F. Rimbault, The Pianoforte, its origin, progressand construction  (London: Robert Cocks & Co1860), 372.[2] Arthur Loesser, Men, Women and Pianos: ASocial History (New York: Simon and Schuster,1954), 73.[3] Rimbault, 'Preface', v.[4] David Wainwright, The Piano Makers (London:Hutchinson, 1975), plate 9.[5] Rimbault, 90.[6] David Wainwright, Broadwood By Appointment:A History (London: Quiller, 1982), 108.[7] Music Trades Review, 15 July 1893, cited inWainwright, Broadwood, 131.[8] The Broadwood Collection, item 2185/JB/6/4/19,Surrey Local History Centre, Woking.[9] Patents for Inventions: Abridgements ofSpecifications Relating to Music and MusicalInstruments 1694-1866 (London: Commissioners ofPatents for Inventions, 1871), 12.[10] Loesser, 74.[11] Wainwright, Broadwood, 150.[12] Cyril Ehrlich The Piano: A History (London:Dent, 1976), plate no. 5.

day could be spent both inside and outsidethe factory, rather than the modern practiceof employing both in-house tuners and out-working tuners. Another picture, found in Cyril EhrlichEhrlich's book The Piano: A History shows asmart, dapper gentleman in a frock coat andsmart shiny shoes tuning a cabinet piano, avery tall instrument around six feet high.[12] Generally, the tuner in theVictorian/Edwardian age seems to have beenregarded as something of a gentleman, sincethey were neither fish nor fowl when it cameto class. They were a breed apart within thefactory—on the factory floor, yet not of it—they were tradesmen but often came to thefront door and conversed freely with the ladyof the house (and occasionally with the manof the house) since they were working onone of the most prized possessions in thehome.  Gill Green

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Lead corrosionin piano actions

Barry Caradine

I was working my way through anotherkeyboard the other day and not unusuallythe key leads are swelling and need to beremoved, holes plugged and the keyboard re-leaded. Some of the keys are beginning tosplit (pictured, above) others just swellingoutwards, which in extreme cases can causethe keys to jam. Just for good measure, wehave recently been sent a set of damperbodies with a similar problem, so it’s not justconfined to keys but anywhere lead is used.We are all used to seeing this in some formor other and have heard various theories asto why it happens, humidity being the mainone. But what exactly causes it? After a little investigation, I stumbledacross a response from Allen Wright who inturn was quoting an article written by LauryLibin, which sparked a little research of myown. Libin explains the exact reasons whythis happens and the process involvedstemming from research done by, of allpeople, the US Navy. They were worriedabout lead corrosion in their model ships.Upon further investigation, there is alsosimilar evidence from the British Museum,Victoria and Albert Museum and in museumconservation literature. The chemical process is as follows. Aceticacid in the presence of carbon dioxidecatalyses the lead to produce lead acetateand lead hydroxide. Lead acetate and leadhydroxide react with carbon dioxide andform lead carbonate.

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Lead carbonate then releases more aceticacid and the process becomes self-sustaining. The lead carbonate (the whitepowder substance we all see in such cases) isnot just a substance clinging to the surface.In fact, it is the lead itself transformed topowder: a portion of the lead has gone,leaving the lead carbonate instead. As thisprocess is self-sustaining, the lead part isprogressively consumed from the outsideinwards. But where does the original acetic acidthat causes this problem come from? Well, itcomes from the wood itself. The productionof acetic acid is believed to result from aprocess of slow hydrolysis of combinedacetyl groups present in hemicelluloses(which constitutes roughly one-third of thetotal carbohydrate in wood). Many species oftimber can produce small amounts ofvolatile corrosive substances and thesesubstances include many molecular-weightcarboxylic acids, particularly acetic andformic acids.In 1962 an experiment was undertaken byFarmer measured the amount of free acidproduced by various woods undercontrolledconditions at intervals up to twoyears. For all timbers examined, includingoak, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, beech, birch,obeche and Parana pine, there was aprogressive increase in free acid. More than90% of the acid was volatile and wasidentified, both chemically andchromatographically, as acetic acid.

June 2020NEWSPTA

Lead corrosion

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The rate at which acetic acid is liberateddepends on the chemical constitution of thewood from which it is derived. This varieswith species and largely accounts for theconsiderable differences in rates ofproduction of acetic acid between timbers.Hardwoods contain approximately 4-6% andsoftwoods 1-2% hemicellulose componentsby weight of wood. Therefore the proportionof acetyl groups capable of liberating aceticacid is higher in hardwoods than insoftwoods. In practice, kiln-dried wood (inother words wood used in keyboard andaction parts ) is much more likely to causecorrosion than air-dried wood. The American study categorised woodsinto three groups: very harmful, moderatelyharmful and less harmful. Basswood is in thevery harmful column (as it is a hardwood)but Sitka spruce in the less harmful column(as it is a softwood). Since the liberation of acetic acid is theresult of a normal chemical process, and not,for example, biological, it is unlikely thatthere are any practical means of preventingit. Most kinds of wood sealers, paints, andclear finishes are not impervious to thepassage of acetic acid, and indeed, thecoatings might further contribute to themicro-environmental problem. Two-partepoxy and some urethane paints appear to

offer a limited degree of barrier, but shellacdoes not offer any protection. ConclusionBasically, this is an inherent problem ofusing lead in the piano. All we can do isremove and replace. If left unchecked, theprocess will continue as it is self-perpetuating and would continue even if notin contact with wood. As time goes by andthe use of lead becomes more problematicand difficult to obtain (as is being proposedin Europe), and we are forced to use analternative, ultimately this might be such abad thing and this all too common problemwill become just a memory.Barry Caradine ReferencesFarmer, R.H. ‘Corrosion of Metals in Association withWood,’ Wood, 27 (1962). 326–328; 443–446. Gibson, L.T. 'Acetic and formic acids emitted from woodsamples and their effect on selected materials in museumenvironments', Corrosion Science, 52:1 (2010), 172–178. Umney, Nick. 'Corrosion of metals associated with wood',Conservation Journal, Victoria & Albert Museum, 4 (1992)<http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-04/corrosion-of-metals-associated-with-wood/>. Wright, Allen. and Libin Laury. PTG Forum<https://my.ptg.org/search?s=key%20lead%20corrosion>

First impressions are crucial for anybusiness. Your website and its content arethe digital clothes your business wears; thefirst encounter the public has with yourbusiness. What image are you trying toportray? Firstly, you need a web address, domainand a suitable domain name, such aswww.fantasticpianotuners.co.uk. Domainname purchase and rental should be around£20/year but may increase after the initialperiod—so check the small print! You willalso have to pay rent for your new domainname to live at your domain and this isknown as hosting. Expect to pay about£200/year for your hosting fee (I pay £16 amonth).

Feeling confused? Don’t worry: ‘websitebuilders’ are there to do the donkey work foryou. You just specify what you want. Verybasic knowledge of software is all that’sneeded to make your own site. I wouldsuggest you purchase your domain andhosting through one of the following websitebuilders: Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress, Cargo Collective, or Site123 (others areavailable). With your own domain, you cancreate professional business email addresses.To current or potential new customers,‘info@fantasticpianotuners.co.uk’ looks farmore professional and business-like than‘joebloggs345@yahoo.com’. I use Squarespace. The templates arebeautiful and it’s simple to use. Wordpress,

Creating awebsite for yourtuning businessChristopher Hacking

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although probably the most established, isreally for those who are a little more tech-savvy. The basic structure of any website is asfollows: Home page; About page; Contactpage. A home page should not contain toomuch text. Place your phone number andbusiness name in bright lights and have aneasily distinguishable button to link to yourcontact page so customers can book a tuningor repair.The about page should contain details ofyour experience, training, services and yourcatchment areas, again with a clear link toyour contact page for bookings.  The contactpage itself is where customers can easilybook services. Use a contact form thatcollects name, number, and email address,and sends the details directly to your emailaddress. Set up email on your smartphone soyou are informed as soon as you have anenquiry. Google indexes web pages in orderto rank them (i.e. the order in which they

appear in search results) and add them to itsvery substantial directory. Your site’scontent and how you present it play a bigrole in how easily customers are able to findyou and how high you rank on Google (whichis effectively the same thing). Your contentshould be designed so that it is attractive toGoogle and other search engines. Theprocess of making it attractive is known asSEO (‘search engine optimisation’).When Google inspects your site, it creates alist of what it deems to be ‘keywords’: thewords or phrases that occur frequently inyour content. Make sure the content of yourwebsite (including page titles anddescriptions) includes the search termspeople are likely to use to find your site e.g.‘piano tuner’, ‘piano tuners in Bristol’,‘piano repair’ etc. Here is a checklist of SEOstrategies you could employ before youlaunch your site: - Keep the names of your pages as home,about, contact (these are known as ‘slugs’)

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Creating a website

June 2020NEWSPTA

- Add a relevant site title- Add a punchy site description- Add a browser icon- Add unique SEO descriptions for each page- Ensure SSL is enabled. SSL is the standardsecurity technology for establishing anencrypted link between a web server and abrowser. This link ensures that all datapassed between the web server and browserremains private. Don't panic! All of this is done in yourwebsite builder. Read the support or helppages for more information. Most websitebuilders will have step-by-step walkthroughinstructions. Google sets out rules for indexing andpenalises (i.e. puts further down the list ofsearch results) websites that break them. The main offenders are: Duplicate ContentDo not copy and paste material fromelsewhere on the web and make sure no twopages on your site are the same.

Keyword StuffingDon’t repeat your keywords and key phrases—this is known as 'stuffing'—to the pointwhere your content becomes unreadable. Copyrighted MaterialDo not copy images from the Internet to useon your site. The cheapest option is to takethe photos yourself, preferably with a qualitycamera rather than a smartphone. If thatisn’t an option, images can be boughtthrough websites such as Shutterstock orused for free from sites like Pexels. The next thing is to register (for free) withGoogle My Business. This is essential andshould be done with the email linked to yourdomain. Fill in all of the available fieldsincluding your business address. You will besent a verification code through the post soGoogle knows it’s you, which must beentered within a few days. My business willremind you to enter it as soon as you log inthe next time around.

Christopher Hacking

24June 2020NEWSPTA

Creating a website for your tuningbusiness

Now that you’ve got a website and areverified with Google business, you need topromote it. Be realistic. Don’t expect toomuch. Everything I have described up untilnow will take a couple of months to embedinto the web. The next thing is to increase your ranking,to get nearer the top of the list of searchresults on Google and Bing. To do that youneed ‘traffic’ (i.e. people visiting yourwebsite). Traffic comes from quality content,social media interaction and advertising.Content, such as a regularly updated blog,can significantly boost your SEO. One way isto create content that answers the questionspeople often search in Google: ‘how do youtune a piano?’, ‘how heavy is a piano?’, ‘howmuch does a piano tuner cost?’ Asmentioned above, make sure you includekeywords and phrases in any content youcreate.

You should also include hyperlinks to otherreputable sites (highlight the word or phraseyou want to turn into a link and press CTRL+ K on PC or CMD + K on Mac, or look for thechain-link symbol on your website builder).All this will drive traffic to your site andincrease your search ranking. Another option is Google ads, which willplace your website at or near the top oftargeted search results based on certainkeywords. If you get busy with bookings youcan pause the campaign and set daily,weekly, or monthly, spending limits Googleads work—but be prepared to pay for theprivilege. Christopher Hacking

25June 2020

NEWSPTA

around the world. When my career began Ididn’t know all this was going to happen. Infact, all I could tell you in 2003 I was in lovewith the piano, intrigued by how it worked,and interested in working with my hands. At the time I didn’t have a mentor or knowhow to find one, which made my path intothis career difficult, uncertain, and fraughtwith challenges. Fast forward to today; Ihave seen that building a career in pianotechnology can be successful if you beginwith these steps:

Building a career in piano technologyshouldn’t have to be this hard! Skilledtradesmen/women in this industry aredisappearing, yet people who play pianotoday invest more in their pianos anddemand a higher level of performance thanthe average pianist decades ago. I believe itis just wrong to have such a need for pianotechnicians go unmet simply because somany struggle to transform their skilledtrade into a career. Sadly, potentially greatpiano technicians often struggle to achievethis transformation. Two decades ago, I was an aspiring pianotechnician. Since then, my full-time careerhas evolved from piano technician to mentorand now business coach to piano technicians

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Starting yourpiano servicecareer

1: Set your internal bar high2:Devote time to learning your trade3: Plan the path you are going to take

Timothy Barnes

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Step 1: Set your internal bar highThe very nature of our craft requires that youset your internal bar high and strive to meetthat standard, however humble or grand thetask. In many ways, we are travelling artistswhose work is judged long after we have leftthe premises. One of my favourite authors,Seth Godin, has taught me that art isn’t whatwe make; it is what we do, and successfullyproducing art boils down to people like usdoing work that matters for people who care.The ultimate value we provide is the choicewe make to care enough about our work andthe people we serve that it transforms ourtechnical skills into an essential service inthe lives of our customers. Step 2: Devote time to learning your tradeInexperienced piano technicians take longerto produce sub-quality work and sometimesperform a repair so poorly even they aresurprised it works. Your piano service careermight begin the day you can perform basicskills, but devoting time each year toongoing education is what defines the futurequality of your career. Assuming these twothings are true, that you have set a highinternal bar and devoted time to learningyour trade, leaves one question for you toanswer: Do I want to be a field serviceemployee, freelancer, small business owner,or full-time concert/university technician?

27April 2020

Step 3: Plan your pathThe path you are going to take isn’t alwaysclear as a young technician, so let's discuss afew options you will encounter. The Field Service EmployeeBeing an employee is an exchange in whichyou bring value to the organization you serveand your employer helps you achieve yourcareer goals. This job might be a steppingstone in your career, it might be a personalchoice to trade slightly lower pay for lowerrisk, or it might just be a great workingenvironment that meets your needs. Thequality of your employee-employerrelationship hinges on the people involvedand the common goals you share.  The FreelancerA freelance piano technician has a uniquestory built around their career. They are solo-preneurs who build a loyal following ofcustomers. They might be an occasionalsubcontractor for a larger business, but theydon't want to be an employee and they neverwant to hire employees. A freelancer buildstheir career by consistently raising rates andseeking better (higher paying) customers.They don’t need everyone to be their clients,they just need the right clients.

The Small Business OwnerThe Small Business Owner chooses to growtheir career by creating a work environmentthat allows other people to thrive. Unlike thefreelancer, they do not need to continuallyraise rates to grow their income. The smallbusiness owner thrives when the business isprofitable, keeps expenses low, values theirpeople, and creates a rewarding workenvironment. Full-Time Concert/University TechnicianBeing a full-time concert piano technicianfor an institution is a rare bird. This is oftenwhere you find the best freelancerssubcontracting their work or full-timeemployees who are there because the work ischallenging, the income is stable, and theopportunities to gig out on the side areendless. On the other hand, institutions arealso bureaucratic organizations where thepeople who value your work are not alwaysthe same people who pay your wages, so theinstitutional politics required to thrive canhave its challenges. Successfully growing your career as apiano technician will probably involve acouple of these paths. However, accidentallybumping along from one to another is atragedy because nobody should have to wasteten years of their life trying to makesomething work.

Timothy Barnes

To find your sweet spot in the piano serviceindustry, you need to focus on the rightpriorities and have a clear understanding ofwhat failure looks like. In my career, I founda simple definition of failure a helpful guide.For me, failure to thrive in my career is'Doing work that matters for people whodon’t care'. When I find myself in such asituation, I know I need to label it a failureand move on without regret. I wish someone had given me this simpleadvice long ago: Set your internal bar high,commit yourself to ongoing education, definefailure, and put a plan in place that allowsyou to do work that matters for people whocare. I am honoured to join the PTA over thenext six instalments of this publication as wetake an in-depth look at a variety of topicsrelated to growing a successful piano servicebusiness / career. Timothy Barnes Timothy Barnes is a Registered Piano Technicianacross the pond in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the founder of: www.Well-LovedPiano.com and www.GrowWithGazelle.com.

28June 2020

NEWSPTA

Damper grubscrewBenjamin E. Nolan

After having recently tuned a nicely restoredSteinway A grand piano, I was alarmed toreceive a telephone message stating that thetreble dampers were not working. Icontacted the customer immediately to seewhat the problem was. Over the phone, Iwasn’t able to assess the problem, soarranged to visit ASAP. The guy was out onthe day of my visit (in Spain) but he washappy to leave a key under the doormat withthe gates open. It’s a new-build countryresidence of substantial nature in what Ishall refer to as the green belt. Having located the house key and letmyself in, I looked at the piano. Indeed,there was one damper in the top treblewhich was not lifting. I carefully removedthe keyboard and action, placing it in a safeplace. Upon inspecting the damper body, itwas apparent that the grub screw wasmissing. Nowhere to be seen. I searched thekey bed with hands, magnet and torch to noavail. Panicking, I figured Steinway might beable to supply the missing grub screw. Arestored 1920’s Steinway —maybe not. One last chance. I guessed the missinggrub screw might have fallen in the action. Ifound an area of hard floor and graduallytilted the keyboard and action.

With a little shake, out popped the grubscrew. What a relief! Once reinstated andhaving nipped up all the other damper bodyscrews, I was satisfied, headed for the doorand locked up. The customer had texted meearlier that day to ask if I could bring in thewheelie bin by the gate when I was finished.The very least could do. Upon completion ofmy wheelie bin task, I got in my car (in theirposh drive) only to see the electronic gatesclose. I was trapped. I phoned the customerin panic. He was calm. The only way he could open the gates wasfor me to press the intercom button on thegate post, then he could send a code. Theonly difficulty was that I had to locate a gapbetween the wall and hedge 100yards downthe garden, then walk back up the road tothe gate. Dear reader, you will be pleased tohear that, under duress, I achieved that task.Following the call to Spain, the gates dulyopened and I escaped. With hindsight, Irealise the wheelie bin was placed to keepthe gates open until I’d finished. One tiny screw. One big adventure. Benjamin E. Nolan

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create professional business email addresses.To current or potential new customers,‘info@fantasticpianotuners.co.uk’ looks farmore professional and business-like than‘joebloggs345@yahoo.com’. I use Squarespace. The templates arebeautiful and it’s simple to use. Wordpress,although probably the most established, isreally for those who are a little more techsavvy. The basic structure of any website is asfollows: Home page; About page; Contactpage. A home page should not contain toomuch text. Place your phone number andbusiness name in bright lights and have aneasily distinguishable button to link to yourcontact page so customers can book a tuningor repair. The about page should contain details ofyour experience, training, services and yourcatchment areas, again with a clear link toyour contact page for bookings.  The contactpage itself is where customers can easilybook services. Use a contact form thatcollects name, number, and email address,and sends the details directly to your emailaddress. Set up email on your smartphone soyou are informed as soon as you have anenquiry.

In 2012, the opportunity came up for me towork a few hours a week for the Motor SportAssociation. My job was to try and helpmotorsport clubs attract new members. Overthe last 18 months, I have been working onthe PTA’s membership subcommittee, tryingto attract new members to the PTA and Ihope that the knowledge I gained working inMotorsport can be useful to the PTA. In 2016John Ross retired leaving me with a verybusy tuning round so I reluctantly had toleave my motorsport job. I now enjoyworking full-time as a tuner, doing mainlydomestic work with some schools,universities and occasional concert work. As my children are growing older, I find Ihave more time to give to the PTA and themove to online meetings makes joining theEC far more practical than a 10-hour roundtrip to London! It seems to me that the PTAand piano tuning in general is in a period ofchange not seen for decades and I hope thatthe PTA will continue to serve the professionas well as maintaining and improvingstandards. Peter Metcalfe

MemberspotlightPeter Metcalfe

Starting as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, Itrained at the London College of Furniturefrom 1987 to 1991 and have worked in thepiano trade ever since. My first job was witha piano shop in Buckinghamshire but in 1993I moved to Northumberland and becameself-employed. I worked in partnership withJohn Ross (not the Steinway John Ross) foralmost 20 years and, for a 7-year period, Iwas the proprietor of John Ross Pianos, apiano and music shop in Corbridge. When my first son was born in 2005 it wasobvious that the shop was too much of acommitment to combine with fatherhood. Isold the business but continued to work as atuner. I joined the PTA as a student andfinally passed my PTA test (after 2 or 3attempts) in 1997. I have always found the PTA to beinvaluable and would urge those strugglingto pass their test to persevere – it really isworth it and a great confidence booster! Mymain hobby and passion has always beenmotorsports.

30June 2020

NEWSPTA

During lockdown my local running club ran asocially distant relay race – here’s my ‘baton’.

Memberspotlight

Ross Horsey

June 2020NEWSPTA

My name is Ross Horsey and I have just beenco-opted onto the Executive Council. I am asemiretired tuner/technician from Ripon,North Yorkshire. I learned the basics of tuning, repairs,regulation, restoration and building ofpianos in the workshop of Alistair Laurencein Otley in the early 1980s. Over the years I supplemented thatknowledge by attending classes and visitingfactories with the PTA. This was animportant part of improving my skills and agreat strength of the PTA.   

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I came to tuning in maturity, having taughtscience in Australia, where I was born, andconducting a pottery and porcelainrestoration business with my wife. The tuners in my area have all been veryco-operative over the years and we holdregular meetings over a fine meal in a localrestaurant. I was drawn to join the ExecutiveCouncil because I disagreed strongly withsome of its decisions and I intend to be abalancing influence. I have already volunteered to help set up apermanent benevolent fund and joinedthe Complaints panel. I intend to work hardto strengthen our valuable Association. Ross Horsey