The tuner has come and gone, and the result is promising.
While we were chatting before he started working, the tuner mentioned that he doesn’t usually trust treatments like this to work, but that it was certainly worth a try, especially given the state of the piano when he last saw it a year ago. All during the tuning, I couldn’t help but wonder if and how badly the pins were slipping.
In the end, though, the tuner was pleased with the treatment. He thinks that the piano should keep its tune for much longer, though the pins most likely will continue to slip a little bit – more so than a normal piano, but infinitely less than before, when 15 seconds of light noodling could throw a key a whole tone or more off. His one ‘complaint’ was that he thought I should have doped the pins as well, then used the CA treatment afterward so that the wood could expand even more. But in the end, he said that I had done a good job with the treatment, and that I had served myself well by doing it on my own.
There’s still going to be some slippage, but the piano is actually useful, now, beyond being just a surface to stack things on. So, the treatment was essentially a success! Hooray!
My plan now is to buy a basic tuning kit to do touch-ups between tunings myself – it’ll save me some money in the long run, and I’ll learn a new skill. I also think it’s best if I start saving for a newer (or brand-new) piano – something without issues. The problem here, of course, is that the piano was a [string of expletives] to get up the stairs – and I paid professionals to move it! So, to get this one back down and a new one up…. Less than pleasant (which is why we pay people to do these things).
The sad thing is that this piano was rarely ever played before I bought it – it apparently sat in a corner for decades, drying out. The felt on the hammers didn’t even have dents from hitting the strings when I got it!
So far, though, I’m pleased with the outcome of the treatment. If there are any changes in the state of the piano, I’ll post here to let the internets know about it.
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