within a perfect octave to themselves be perfect. A paradox common to all fixed-pitch instruments, first discovered by the ancient Greeks, is that it’s impossible for all the intervals - thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, etc. In addition to physical obstacles, there are acoustical obstacles to tuning.
#THE PIANO TUNER HOW TO#
Because all parts of a single wire have a tendency to seek the same tension, loop stringing is a more challenging environment in which to learn how to create a stable tuning. Other times, they are parts of adjacent notes, with one half of the wire tuned a half step higher or lower than the other half, the two halves necessarily held at distinctly different tensions. Sometimes these two strings sound the same note and are tuned to the same pitch. In loop stringing, each length of steel music wire in the treble actually forms two strings, which are separated by a sharp bend in the wire where the strings are anchored to the piano’s castiron frame. Tuning is also potentially made more difficult by the design element of modern pianos known as loop stringing. All of these factors are obstacles not only to tuning, but also to creating a tuning that will be stable for a reasonable length of time, given the piano’s use and environment. The process is complicated by the sheer number of strings and tuning pins (more than 200 of each, the exact number varying with the model), by the high tension under which the strings are stretched, by the tightness with which the tuning pins are anchored in the pinblock, and by the friction points over which the taut strings must slide as they’re being tuned. Wilson has more information about piano tuning appointments on his website the uninitiated, tuning a piano may seem a simple, straightforward procedure, but it isn’t. “Taking care of people and helping them enjoy the instrument and enjoy that and visit with them, it’s been a real blessing in that way,” Wilson said. “Our main goal is wanting to help other people, wanting to make other people happy,” Carter said. With Carter’s passion for piano and those deep musical roots, Wilson knew she’d be a reliable piano partner. “I later found out from my grandmother that I have a great grandfather and a great-great-grandfather who were also piano tuners, so perhaps it’s in my blood,” Carter said with a laugh. Looking for people recommending, it was hard to find a piano tuner,” Carter said.Ĭarter has been learning from Wilson since then and now handles the piano repairs. “I actually went through a 2-year-old Facebook thread to find Wendell’s name. He comes into your life and he makes a difference,” said Maddie Carter, who met Wilson one year ago when she called on him to tune her piano. “He’s a wonderful person and has such a great heart. I got something I want to talk to you about.' And we talk,” Wilson said. I’ve even had people call me after I’ve tuned their piano and say, ‘you know Wendell, I’d like to talk to you.
“I’ll take time and listen, but I will not divulge it to anybody what they’ve said. I’m just a piano tuner, so they open up,” Wilson said. And I will get into homes and have people that have nobody to talk to. With ears wide open, his attentiveness goes beyond the keys and chords. So I learned to tune by ear,” Wilson said. “When I started, they didn’t have apps in your phones, they didn’t have machines. “When I was 17 years old, I was at an academy and they had a piano in the parlor, and I would just start picking out songs and I would do ‘Three Blind Mice’ and it went from there,” Wilson said. That’s how I started,” he said.īut even before that, the piano was Wilson’s passion.
#THE PIANO TUNER FULL#
“Bought an old piano full of mice, I cleaned it out. This year I’ll do about 25,000,” Wilson said.Įncouraged to tune pianos by a church parishioner way back when, Wilson hasn’t stopped since. I went to Williston North Dakota, I did Sidney, Glendive, all this area.
#THE PIANO TUNER LICENSE#
He’s a traveling piano tuner, with license plates that read “ILTUN4U”. “I’ve been tuning pianos for 60 years,” Wilson said. Wendell Wilson, 85, has made it his life’s work to tune pianos and get pianos in tip-top shape. BILLINGS – As Christmas approaches, families will gather, some around the piano, listening to beautiful Christmas tunes.
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