Revisiting an Old Friend

This past spring, amidst the state wide lockdown, I had the opportunity to work on this Yamaha GH1 Grand Piano while the family was away at their home in New Hampshire. I seized the opportunity not only for some work, but to be able to bring this piano back to a level I knew it could be. When I first tuned this piano the tone was harsh and bright, I like to describe it as “ice picks”. Not pleasant at all to the ear and would bring out every small imperfection in the string and the tuning. The action also felt clunky and and uneven and the hammers were worn, misshapen and grooved. So I got to work, filing hammers, regulated the action, voicing the hammers, tuning multiple times. I was very pleased with the work and so was the customer when he had come back into town. Now six months later I was able to revisit this piano and see how my work had held up. The piano was just how I had remembered it. Warm pleasant tone, smooth even action. This piano went from being an instrument that was good enough for your kids to learn on to being something that was on par with concert level pianos.

After working on lots of old, broken pianos and bringing them back to life, it was nice to revisit this old friend to see that the hard work I had put into it was still paying off. This is one of the great gratifying parts of being a technician. Seeing an instrument again and again and seeing how your work has held up over time. My customer was very happy with the work, but I left their being extremely satisfied and confident in my own ability to make a lasting difference with someone’s piano.