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Friday, February 10, 2006

Piano tuner

Right now my piano tuner is here. I used to hate when he came and interrupted 2 or 3 hours of my day with that incessant banging. But now I find it strangely hypnotic and pleasant. For those who have never been in the presence of a live piano tuning, it consists of an odd guy (often a person with emotional and personal hygeine issues) striking each key of the piano 30 or 40 times while making tiny adjustments to the pitch. Then he moves on over to the next key and does the same to that one. It's like the worst song ever written. But magically, 3 hours later, your piano sounds awesome.

My guy is clearly from The Ukraine or some similar place, and I can't help wanting to imitate his thick Yakov Smirnov accent... "Oooh yis. Doo yoo wunt myi tyune pyanu? Vy suo miny brokin strinks?" He is awesome.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Eric Mortensen said...

i imagine he's using a tuning device of some type, but do you also get the impression that he can hear when it's correct?

or is he no different than an refridgerator repairman?

1:21 PM EST

 
Blogger Myles said...

Actually, he had some cool little tuning app on his Palm Pilot. But mostly, he was doing it by ear and in comparison to other strings. My piano teacher from many moons ago once told me that some dude was scamming people by attaching an oscilloscope to the piano frame and going out for lunch. When he came back 2 hours later, he would tell the customer "There you go! All tuned up." and charge them an arm and a leg.

1:27 PM EST

 

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