Piano Tuning

Piano Tuning

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Title: Piano Tuning A Simple and Accurate Method for Amateurs
Author: J. Cree Fischer
Release Date: January 22, 2006 [EBook #17571]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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TUNING ***

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J. CREE FISCHER
PIANO TUNING
A SIMPLE AND ACCURATE METHOD FOR AMATEURS

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. NEW YORK

Copyright (c) 1907 by Theo. Presser.
All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright
Conventions.
Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmill
Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.
Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Company, Ltd., 10
Orange Street, London WC 2.
This Dover edition, first published in 1975, is a republication of the
work originally published in Philadelphia in 1907. The following
sections have been omitted from the present edition because they were
out-of-date: Practical Application of Piano Tuning as a Profession,
Business Hints, Ideas in Advertising, and Charges for Services. This
edition is reprinted by special arrangement with Theodore Presser
Company, Presser Place, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, publisher of the
original edition.
International Standard Book Number: 0-486-23267-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-14759
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Street
New York, N.Y. 10014

PREFACE.
For some years past a lack of competent men in the profession of Piano
Tuning has been generally acknowledged. This may be accounted for
as follows: The immense popularity of the piano and the assiduous
efforts of factories and salesmen have led to the result that nearly every
well-to-do household is furnished with an instrument. To supply this
demand the annual production and sale for the year 1906 is estimated at
three hundred thousand pianos in the United States. These pianos must
be tuned many times in the factory before they are shipped to the
salesroom; there they must be kept in tune until sold. When, finally,
they take up their permanent abode in the homes of the purchasers, they
should be given the attention of the tuner at least twice a year. This
means work for the tuner. But this is not all. Presuming that the average
life of the piano is about fifty years, it is evident that there exists in this
country an accumulation of instruments variously estimated at from
four to five millions. This means _more work for tuners_.
While production and accumulation have been increasing, there has
been little, if any, effort made to provide tuners to look after the needs
of this ever-increasing number of instruments, no provision for the
thorough instruction of the learner of Piano Tuning, outside the walls of
the factories, and of the few musical colleges where the art is taught.
Doubtless there are many persons who are by nature well adapted to
this agreeable and profitable occupation--persons who would make
earnest effort to acquire the necessary skill and its honest application if
they had a favorable opportunity. Musical colleges in which tuning is
taught are few and far between; piano factories are built for the purpose
of producing pianos and not tuners, for mechanics and laborers and not
for teachers and pupils; furthermore, very little fine tuning is done in
the factory; rough tuning is the bulk of the work there, and a long
apprenticeship in the factory, with its meager advantages, is rarely
sufficient to meet the demands of the would-be-thorough tuner. This
may account, in part, for the fact that many who are incompetent are
following this profession, and that there is an increasing demand for
tuners of skill.

In view of these facts the author came to the opinion that if a course of
instruction were prepared which would demonstrate clearly the many
abstruse details of the art in an interesting and comprehensible way, it
would be appreciated by those who are desirous to learn. Acting upon
this impulse, he began the preparation of such a course.
The present book is the outgrowth of a course of instruction, used
successfully with pupils from various parts of the United States and
Canada, conducted partly by correspondence; partly at the school
directed by the author. Although it has been necessary to revise the
course somewhat for publication in the present form, no essential
matter has been omitted and much has been added.
In preparing this course of study the utmost effort has been made to
present the various topics in the clearest, most