May 5, 2024

About How to tune a piano eBook

The book “How to tune a piano” is made with the aim to teach you to tune pianos the easiest and straightforward possible way.
In brief, create a short cut that goes straight to the point. To achieve that, I have deliberately reduced the theory to a minimum, focusing only on the essentials. I have tried to do this the friendly way, imagining that the student is learning next to me and offering comments and advices based on the experience of so many years.

I thought specially on the people that without any previous experience want to learn to tune pianos as a hobby, to tune their own piano or engage in piano tuning as a full or part time profitable and rewarding activity. Also in the experienced professionals that want to update their knowledge or compare their methods with the ones used by other colleagues. Overall, I am confident this book will be useful and beneficial to any music lover interested and curious to know about pianos.

“How to tune a piano” buy and download Now!

$29,95 USD

 
“How to tune a piano” main Features

  • Step by step simple and easy to follow instructions
  • Numerous photographs, charts and helpful diagrams
  • mp3 samples of the “beats” will show you how to build the temperament
  • Dedicated Chapters covering tunning hammer technique exercises
  • Plenty of “tips”, short cuts and first hand personal advices

What makes this book special

Is the inclusion of abundant audio-visual material. The student not only read and see the plentiful descriptive colour pictures, but also hear the mp3 sound files which are embedded in the book.
Steps like tuning octaves and unisons, the building of the “temperament” and the practice chapter are accompanied by their respective sound recording, so the student not only read, but also listen and know exactly what to do and how. This advantage let you learn to tune a piano in much shorter time than any other method.

Testimonials

 

Dear Juan,
I found your book excellent, It is very comprehensive and covers all that a beginner would need to know. Overall it is beautifully presented and I find no fault with it at all. The photographs are very clear and are more than useful to the explanations in the text. It makes me feel confident to have a go myself.
Tom Robinson (England)

Hi Juan,
I have read your books and I think they are very well written in that it is comprehensive with the right amount of detail and helpful diagrams. For those who want to learn to tune and repair pianos, your books will be very useful.
Howard Lock (UK)

Table of contents

 

Chapter I: Basic tuning tools
This first chapter is devoted to the basic tools to tune a piano. The topics covered are:

Basic tuning kit
The tuning hammer
The tuning fork and rubber wedges
The metronome
The temperament felt strip

Chapter II: Using the tuning hammer
Introduces you without any further preamble in the art of piano tuning and teaches you its mechanics as it is done in practice. The topics are as follow:

Getting the “feel” and control
The right hammer, the right tips
Setting the pins
Setting the strings
Tuning hammer position
Careful not to break the strings
Summary

Chapter III: The main elements, parts and functions
This chapter examines the construction and the main elements of a piano. The idea is to give the student a clear overview of how a piano works. The chapter concludes with cut sections of Grand and Upright piano actions.

The main parts
The sound board
The frame
The cast-iron plate
The pin-block
The action

Chapter IV: Elementary theory, the basics you need to know
This section covers the basic elemental theory you need to know to tune a piano. Very important so that you can understand what it comes later. These are the topics

How the sound is produced
Harmonics and partials
How strings vibrates, the partials
The notes at the piano
Theoretical and real frequencies
The intervals
The unisons
Beats and pulses

Chapter V: Tuning practices
This chapter consist of a series of preliminary exercises to serve you as preparation before you undertake the full piano tuning protocol. You will study the three main intervals needed to set the piano equal temperament to perform a professional and accurate piano tune. You will also learn to tune unisons and octaves and judge by yourself the speed of the piano beat rates.

Tuning unisons
Tuning octaves
How to judge the speed of beat rates
The tuning fork, how to use it
The piano tuner scale
Tuning the main three temperament intervals
False beats, how to deal with them

Chapter VI: Standard piano tuning procedure
This is the fundamental and most extensive chapter of the book. Gradually you will learn how to build the temperament with step by step precise instructions. Here you have all the beat rates needed to build the temperament, conveniently recorded as mp3 files, so the student can easily recognize and judge the piano temperament beat rates without any query or doubt. This section also covers specialized topics of piano tuning like, how to raise the pitch, how to tune a piano to 442, how to do the “stretch”, and so on.

The temperament
Previous preparations
Setting the temperament
Advice and suggestions
Tuning the central section of the keyboard
Tuning the upper section
Tuning the bass section
The “stretch”
Stretch tuning, standard procedure
About raising the pitch
Raising the pitch, modus operandi
Tuning a piano to A442

Chapter VII: Important related topics
Being a piano tuner is not always easy. Sometimes we find ourselves in relatively uneasy situations. This chapter discusses the difficulties we may encounter and how to deal with them.

Tuning at a concert
Aural tuning versus electronic tuning
Specific electronic tuners, its main applications
Summary

Chapter VIII: Managing a piano tuner business, the best advice
This chapter is aimed to all of you who want to engage in piano tuning as a profession. A practical guideline on how to successfully manage your business as piano technician. The author of the book, gives specific advices and last recommendations for the future piano tuner, based on his own experience.

Promoting your business, get yourself known
Build a customer data base
The price issue
Exceptions to the rule
Learning to play the piano
Tune as many pianos as possible
Properly managing your working time
Building trust
The odd job
Piano tuning is a seasonal work
The best you can

Buy the two eBooks Now and save a 15% - Instant download!




$50,92 USD

Have you got any questions/comments about this book? Please, let us know.

© copyright 2011 Juan Olalla   All rights reserved    www.howtotuneapiano.com

About How to repair a piano eBook

Learn to repair, regulate and voice pianos the professional way. This book “How to repair a piano” will be a great asset for beginers and/or advance students who also want to repair as well as tune their own piano.
Save lots of money in expensive repairs, and learn a skill that you can use to repair and service other people pianos. In addition, “How to repair a piano” will teach you not only to do repairs, but also so important aspects of the piano as regulation and voicing.

This book is the product of so many years of work. The techniques and methods exposed in this method are based on my own experience working as a piano technician for the last 32 years. As you will discover in this book, most malfunctions on the piano are easier to mend than they look at first sight so, why not to do it yourself. Learn the “tricks of the trade” and repair pianos in no time, I’ll show you how.


 

“How to repair a piano” Buy and download Now!

$29,95 USD

 

“How to repair a piano” main Features:

  • 132 pages divides into 7 Chapters comvering all the important issues
  • More than 140 pictures and helpful diagrams
  • Numerous tips and first hand advices
  • Full dedicated chapters covering regulation and voicing
  • A check list for quick reference with the piano most common failures

                            Table of Contents

Chapter I: How the action works 
Grand piano main sections
Note on cross sections nomenclature
Grand piano cabinet  nomenclature
Grand piano action cross section
Upright piano action cross section
Operation of the upright action
Upright wippen assembly
Upright action operation in four phases
How the grand piano action works
Grand piano wippen assembly
Grand piano operation in five phases 

Chapter II: The hammers, common faults and how to repair them
Basic tools
The virtues of “hot glue”
Repairing hammers and shanks
Changing a whole set of hammers
Modus operandi
Repairing a broken hammer shank
Flanges and bushings
Repairing a flange
Sluggish action parts
Repairing broken or damage bridle straps
Final notes and recommendations

Chapter III: The piano strings
Basic tools
Bass strings
Middle and treble section steel strings
Piano wire size number
Procedure to replace a string
Restringing a piano 

Chapter IV: The pins and the pinblock
Pinblock cross section
Pianos that don’t stay in tune
How to repair a loose pin
Pinblock tightener 

Chapter V: The keyboard, the keys
Most common fault
Determine where is the problem
Fixing a sluggish or sticking key
Keys rubbing on the key slip, a classic
Replacing the key bushings
Repairing a broken key 

Chapter VI: Regulating
Understanding regulation
Regulation tools
Basic preparations

Regulating the upright piano
General alignment and squaring
Check and align the travel of the hammer butt
Check and align the hammers to the strings
Check and align the jacks to the hammers
Aligning the backcheck
Regulate hammer stroke
Regulate lost motion
Regulate the average key height
Regulate hammer let-off
Regulate key dip
Regulate hammer checking
Regulate the pedals
Regulate the dampers
Regulate the damper spoons
Regulate the bridle straps
Final note on regulating the upright piano 

Regulating the grand piano
The let-off regulation rack
Basic preparations
Spacing and levelling the keys
Regulate the travel of hammers
Align hammers to strings
Regulate the jack to the hammer roller
Adjust the height of the repetition lever
Regulate the hammer height
Regulate the hammer let-off
Regulate the hammer drop
Regulate the backchecks
Regulate the repetition lever spring
Regulate the dampers
Adjust the height of the damper stop rail
The grand piano pedals
Regulating the grand pedals  

Chapter VII: Voicing
Understanding piano voicing
Voicing tools
The voicing technique
Voicing procedure
Voicing for “strong”
Voicing for “soft
Comprehensive hammer voicing
Voicing the last treble octave
Final notes on voicing 

Action problems summary quick reference
Note is too weak
Note doesn’t sound at all (dead key)
Hammer strikes the strings two or more times
Hammer gets blocked against the strings
Sluggish and “lazy” notes
Notes “clicking” noise
Dampers unable to damp

Buy the two eBooks Now and save a 15% - Instant download!




$50,92 USD
Any questions about this/these books? Please, let us know.

Copyright © Juan Olalla 2011