June 2015

Hereford Convention IssueReports from all the classes

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Editorial — 4President Writes — 5Membership News — 6Early Temperaments — 888 Keys to Better Piano Work — 10Tool Auction — 11Electronics in Uprights — 12Piano Recital — 13Business Focus — 14Dampp Chaser System — 15Hereford Convention — 16PTA AGM — 18PTA Finances — 24Piano Comparisons — 26From Fleece to Finished Product — 27

Steinway Voicing Masterclass — 28Council Report — 30PTA Diary — 31

The next deadline for PTA News is: Friday 24th July 2015.PTA News is the Newsletter of the Pianoforte Tuners’ Association. All views expressed are

those of the contributors, not necessarily reflecting those of the PTA or the editorial team.Please send items for publication to ‘The Editor’, preferably via email with photographs sent

separately from the text. Posted items can only be returned if accompanied by an SAE.Please obtain the necessary permission before submitting copyright items.

PTA News, 49 South Hamilton Street, KILMARNOCK, KA1 2DTEmail: ptanews@pianotuner.org.uk

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I can’t quite believe that it has been one year since I tookover from Matthew as Editor of the PTAN. They say that timeflies when you are enjoying yourself and this year certainly hasflown by. I hope that you are enjoying reading the Newsletter asmuch as I enjoy making it. I’d like to thank Bill Kreis very much for hiscontribution to the Newsletter as proof reader and supplier of interesting articles.

Yet again the Convention in Hereford has been a marvellous occasion and thisissue is full of photographs and reports from all the classes along with write-upsof the other events that have taken place there. There are some very personalaccounts of the classes and through reading the articles, without exception,everyone seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the classes that they have taken.

Thank you to all the contributors to this Convention Issue for your time andeffort in writing the class reports, concert and tool auction reviews. Thank youalso to Andy Jamieson for his photographs and also to Patrick Symes, SusanO’Leary and Gary Whiteland for theirs.

I’m delighted to have Student Kevin Willoughby’s contribution about hisexperience of the Convention. I hope that this encourages other Students to realisejust how important it is to make contact with experienced tuners and techniciansand other contacts in the trade, suppliers and dealers, as you enter this profession.It is not so long ago that I was a Student myself.

Some helpful marketing tips from the Business Focus class, generously givento us by Heidi Chamberlain-Jones, have been placed on the Convention page inthe Members’ Area of the website. This should give you an insight into what tookplace in this class and you may find these useful in running your business.

Please continue to send me items of interest, articles, photographs and othermaterial for inclusion in future issues.The usual address is ptanews@pianotuner.org.uk

EDITORIALANNE BURTON

DEADLINE FOR PTAN ARTICLES: FRIDAY 24th July 2015Send articles, letters and photos to: ptanews@pianotuner.org.uk or to address on p3.

Please send your text and photographs in separate emails.

To advertise in PTA News, at very reasonable rates, please contact:Mr Stephen Venn, 96 Anmore Road, Denmead, WATERLOOVILLE PO7 6NT.

Email: advertising@pianotuner.org.uk

Front cover left, top to bottom: Roger Blackbourn’s class; Kawai exhibition; Broughton Pianossetting up; Vale Pianos exhibition. Front cover right: Jenna Sung; H J Fletcher & Newman stand

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THE PRESIDENT WRITESANNE BURTON

It is a great honour to have been elected as the newPresident of the PTA. I’m taking over from Brian Frost who,having served two terms in this office, is a very experiencedleader so it is rather daunting to find myself in this position. It is noticeablethat we miss the wealth of experience from the number of long-standingCouncil Members who stood down at the AGM and I thank them for all thework and time that they have given the Association. It may take a little whilefor the new Council to find its feet but we are all very eager to do our best andI look forward to working with everyone during the coming year.

We have been very lucky to have had a great Convention Team, ably led byAndy Jamieson, who has delivered another superb Convention. Andy has stooddown after 25 years’ service to the PTA and I’d like to thank him for hisoutstanding contribution. A photograph of his presentation is on page 6.

Thank you to everyone who travelled to the AGM and Convention Lunch;it was good to see you all there.

The new version of the PTA website has been up and running since Mayand it contains all of the features of the previous site on a new, easy tomaintain platform and all the information has been updated and revised.The Forum which will replace the PList is coming soon and it will be easy toread, to join in or ignore as you please. Guidelines for posting on the Forumwill be put in place to ensure proper etiquette is maintained. While visiting thewebsite, do look for any new information appearing there before the nextPTAN arrives. Please note that if you have links to the PTA website from yourown website, you will have to redo these links as they were broken when were-pointed the PTA website at the end of April.

I was pleased to see some Students at the Convention and hope that morewill make the effort to attend next year and also come along to the Mario IgrecTraining Day on 17th October. There is very limited availability for this eventso please send your booking forms in early. Advertisement on page 7.

PTDAE are holding a course from the 6th to 8th July at Barry Caradine’sworkshops in Suffolk for which there are still places; see the advertisementand information on the website.

The 2015/2016 Yearbook is currently in preparation. Please use the mostrecent copy of the Yearbook to ensure that you have Members’ up to datecontact details. Should you require extra copies, please let Annette know.

Anne BurtonPTA President

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MEMBERSHIP NEWSANNETTE SUMMERS

A very warm welcome to new PTA Member:1365 Mr Stuart Jones

Unit 20Mochdre Enterprise ParkNEWTOWNPowysSY16 4LETel: 01686 623535

Please send all changes of address,telephone and email to The Secretary.Contact details on Page 31

Andrew Jamieson receives his presentationfrom out-going President Brian Frost

Brian Frost handsover to Anne Burton

Mario Igerc

HIBIKI TUNING TOOLSIn Malcolm McKeand’s class

at the convention, Malcolm talkedabout the Hibiki tuning toolswhich he uses. These are hand-made in Japan by Norio Kitamura.Manabu Arimori is planning toorder some of these tools and hehas kindly offered to help anyPTA Member who may beinterested in purchasing thesetools. This includes help totranslate the Hibiki website andwith the shipping from Japan.

Anyone who wishes to take upthis offer, please contact theSecretary in the first instance.

Please note that this is apersonal offer from Manabu andis not linked to Kawai UK.http://members2.jcom.home.ne.jp/hibikipianokoubou10/tr.html

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PTA TRAINING DAYSaturday 17th October, 2015

“Priorities, Discoveries and Touch”With Mario Igrec Author of ‘Pianos Inside Out’

10am – 5pm Steinway Hall, 44 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2DBA wonderful opportunity to hear Mario talk about these topics:● What Matters, What Doesn't: Prioritizing Work in a Changing Market● Discoveries, Surprises, Lessons Learned on the journey to

‘Pianos Inside Out’● Practical Touch Analysis: A Four-step, Non-invasive Grand Touch

Evaluation Method“Practical Touch has progressed to new insights and new tools, all aimed atremoving unnecessary complexity and inefficiency. This time saving approachwill put you in control and allow you to improve the outcome of your action

work with little additional time and cost added to your projects”£55 for Members/Associates; £75 for non-Members; £10 PTA Students

Booking form with this issue of PTA NewsPlaces strictly limited

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Attendance was limited to just five for this very“hands-on” session. David Day, Richard Vernon, BarneyUnwin, Kevin Willoughby and I were treated to anintroduction to some of the more durable of the oldtemperaments and put through our paces in trying to createthem on a beautiful Morley Spinet. It was a rare treat for me

as class“Introducer” to have a PTA“Student” present, as I haveofficiated at many of RogerBlackbourn’s classes, andthis was the first time thatthere was someone therewho had actually never methim before!

It is usually a nerve-racking experience to stand up in front of a class of expert tuners and put one’sskills on the line, but Roger always hassuch a happy knack of putting us at ourease and so all the tuners in the classwere keen to have a go.

There are several tricky things aboutsetting old temperaments. The first isthat the order is usually unique for eachtemperament. Often there is a basicassumption of certain “pure” intervals,and so those are often the first to tackle,and the order of setting the scale is driven by this. Rather than work throughin a set programme based on thirds, fifths, fourths, or whatever is our usualchosen scheme, one often has to break off in the middle of a sequence to returnto a note already set and then plough off in a different direction to find themore hidden corners of the scale. The second confusing aspect is that ofchecks. Without the uniformity of ET, these are very weird. Imagine perusingthe series of checks and finding “C# - F 34.2 bps”!!. Of course the checks,like the thirds, fourths and fifths etc usually do not “run” and so one feels to beat sea in a rudderless boat.

EARLY TEMPERAMENTSROGER BLACKBOURN SPONSORED BY R MORLEY & CO.LTD.REPORT BY JOHN LAMBERT

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On the bonus side, the absence of runningintervals does perhaps give on a little more

“wriggle” room. ET is a very hard taskmasterin that it is immediately obvious it the scaleis not good.

Having set the scale, one is then presentedwith fresh problems in setting the octaves.In one temperament, the fifths varied frompure to 5.1 bps and the thirds from pure to34.2 bps so until one is familiar with thetemperament the checks seem rather bizarre,and each of the twelve notes within the octavehas a unique “suite” of checks peculiar to it.

I think we were all rather surprised at someof the results though. The scales seemedextremely odd and quirky, and I think we wereall rather expecting them to sound rather

“other worldly” when the tuning was complete and the instrument was played.The same test piece was used for each of four temperaments and the resultswere surprisingly satisfying. True, some of the remoter keys visited had anextra “frisson” but the effect of this was rather to add character and colour.

As is usual with Roger’s classes, there were plenty of opportunities toexplore other topics which inevitably arose on the way. We had someinteresting discussions on strings – useful to have Roger and Barney in thesame room - and other topics including voicing and construction.

Our grateful thanks to Roger and Morley’s for such an enjoyableopportunity to learn new skills.

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88 KEYS TO BETTER PIANO WORKALLEN WRIGHTREPORT BY GARY WHITELAND

Allen’s well-prepared talk was supported with anexcellent slide presentation. Some Mac/PC incompatibilityproblems meant some of the videos couldn’t be shown, but thisdidn't detract from the day. His enthusiasm and fresh approach to tuning andrepairing pianos was thought provoking and inspiring.

He passed round a number of tools, some bought, some made, and someadapted. Allen’s repair techniques also demonstrate his curiosity about the wayhe approaches piano work. Of particular interest was using a block of wood andtuning wedges to set a reference point from which the uprightset-off could be adjusted quickly and accurately.

In another procedure he used stationery clips attached togrand hammer shanks to add weight and therefore slow downthe rate the hammers rise when released from check; a very

accurate way of setting therepetition spring tension.We also learned how to clean damper felts with anelectric toothbrush, prepare strips ofpaper to use in travelling hammersusing a pair of paper shreddingscissors and how to manoeuvre agrand action on the lid of the piano

using a plastic ring and tennis ball — this video did work andwas quite a revelation.

Allen covered a multitude of tools andtechniques throughout during the day, and still hadmaterial left. His audience would have been quite happyto continue on into the evening if we had been able.

I would certainly attend another of Allen’s classes, andrecommend them to others.

Auctioneers Andrew Jamieson and Brian Frost in action

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TOOL AUCTIONREPORT BY JAMES CROUCH

Nicely filling the gap after Thursday’s classes and anevening meal, the tool sale provided us with the perfectopportunity to buy a tool or two and contribute towards the PTAStudent fund, all in the convivial atmosphere of the auction room.

I do not regard myself as a ‘collector’ when it comes to tools. I do, however,find it hard not to buy one when I like the look of it rather than because I needit; Emma and Steve at Fletcher & Newman can verify this!The various articles to be sold were on display during the day and as I lookedat each of them I asked myself: “do I need this?” or “do I need another one?”or more often than not “what’s this for? A calm, considered and objectiveapproach was adopted and the decision was made; I should only bid for lotnumbers 28 and 32.

A good crowd was seated in the Hereford Suite when I arrived just in timefor the first lot. Standing at the side, where I could see what was on offer andwho else was bidding, I would wait for ‘my’ lots to come up and then theauction was under way. After a few lots had passed our auctioneer, Brian, heldup another item and the bidding seemed slow to get started. I waved my hand,just to get things going and they did get going! I waved again and “sold toJames” was announced from the front. I reassured myself that the tool wouldbe quite useful even if I had not intended buying it.

After a few more lots were sold another was slow to attract bids. I thoughtI would get this one going as well with just one bid to start it off... “sold toJames” came the cry from the front. Oh dear, I think I had caught the auctionbug which can, among other things, cause a lack of self-control. It took me awhile to realise that it is customary (though not compulsory) to wait untilsomebody else has bid before making a repeat bid. A small consolation is thatI was not alone in making this mistake plus it was all in a good cause.

I am pleased to say that I did purchase lots 28 and 32 along with about tenother lots which I am still sorting through. There are often very useful items insales like this and this auction was no exception.

After the final lot had passed through, goods were collected and paymentswere made. Arithmetic skills were put to the test and handled well by theauction team of Brian Frost, Andrew Jamieson and Lewis Flisher as the finaltransactions were made in point blank range of the Kawai SK-EX that wasbeing tuned by Manabu Arimori for Friday’s concert.

The total raised was £850 which will go to the Student Fund to helpStudents attend Conventions.

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Neil Sale was the main presenter of this class, with somehelp from Manabu. For anyone who hasn’t attended a Kawai class,the atmosphere is highly co-operative. I introduce my report with this,because Neil gave considerable attention to the matter. At Kawai, they regard highlytrained tuners as ambassadors, who can not only recommend the Kawai product, butalso ensure that the customer gets the greatest possible satisfaction from whicheverproduct he or she has. Of course, this should preferably be a Kawai, but I had theimpression that a long-term and broad view is taken of the home musical experience.If the customer is happy, he or she will come back for more.(Oh shucks, there goes my Kawai pension!)

Kawai has a forward-thinking policy. Whilst they spend a lot of time lookingafter concert musicians, who by nature are very particular, they also work hard tobe up-to-date, with all that this entails. So they try to improve the musical experience

for the ordinary customer, who may not be a prodigiousmusician. Neil pointed out two facts; firstly, electronicpianos are getting cheaper and more exciting, secondly,acoustic pianos are getting dearer, and some see them asboring.

It follows that putting them together stands a good chanceof keeping us all in work. So Kawai make an acousticupright sound like a grand, then they add the best available

digital orchestration. (For the techies amongst you, the latest model hasa midi with 127 signals from each key, and the electronic system has patented 88note sampling.) (In the manual, the older versions are illustrated and explained.)(Kawai pension re-instated?!)

Seriously, I know that some may find the above so full of sales talk as to beuseless as a class report, but an important point was being made. Ladies andgentlemen, we are in a shrinking industry whether or not we recognise the fact.Basically, we have to modernise, both in what we are prepared to tackle, and in ourattitudes, or we will wither. At present, Kawaisometimes have to send someone out 200miles or more from Milton Keynes, to attendto something which any one of us could dogiven a little training. That costs Kawai a lot ofmoney, and we are losing out. Do we not lookfoolish if we say that we can’t do somethingwhich has wires and looks scary?

ELECTRONICS IN UPRIGHTSMANABU ARIMORI SPONSORED BY KAWAI UKREPORT BY ERIC SIEVERS

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So here are some of the basic rules that we were shown.1. Basic Safety – Disconnect before attempting any work.2. Take a picture before starting.3. Use a contact cleaner, (from Maplin’s or similar) on any part you remove

before reassembly, especially jack sockets.4. Rubber bushings need lubrication, sometimes on the outside too.We were also shown how to correctly disconnect the digital parts from a Kawai

hybrid piano for servicing purposes, and how to adjust them correctly onreassembly. Each one of us had a chance to practise, including things likeadjusting the stop rail. Different lubrication products were suggested, one of which(McLube) is available from Amazon. You might have to pop over to Japan forsome of the others!

As I wrote in the last report I did about a Kawai class, you really cannot affordto miss the next opportunity to ‘wise up’ on these matters. A big ‘Thank you!’ toNeil Sale, Manabu and Kawai!

PIANO RECITALGIVEN BY JENNA SUNGSPONSORED BY JAQUES SAMUELPIANOSREPORT BY STEPHEN CARROLL-TURNER

After classes finished on Friday evening we were treated to an eloquentreminder of the beauty that our craft makes possible. Jenna Sung played a wideranging recital that demonstrated a fine command of tone colour and formidabletechnical control. Starting with two sonatas by Scarlatti and one by Haydn,an initial slight sense of reserve was overcome by Haydn’s good nature and joie devivre. This was followed, in a bold piece of programming, by a little known butexquisite piece by Scriabin for left hand alone, the Prelude and NocturneOp 9. It was played with wonderful lyricism and beauty of sound, drawing theaudience closer and closer in.  Her ability to make the melody sing abovethe accompanying chords, using just the left thumb and careful pedalling,was remarkable.

In Schumann’s  ‘Carnaval’ which followed, the rapidly changing moodswere beautifully caught, and the technical challenges – for example the breakneckrepeated notes of ‘Reconnaissance’ –   were thrown off with dazzling bravura. Tofinish her recital with a Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue was another unusual ideawhich worked wonderfully; fearless playing, full of witand sarcasm. We can count ourselves privileged to hear such fine playing in suchinformal circumstances.

Our thanks go to Jaques Samuel Pianos for sponsoring the concert and to KawaiUK for the loan of the Shigeru Kawai concert grand piano. Specialacknowledgement should also be made of the wonderful concert preparationand tuning by Manabu Arimori.

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BUSINESS FOCUSHEIDI CHAMBERLAIN-JONESBY MICHELLE RUDD

Who are your customers and do you communicate withthem? This was the pertinent question for which Heidi had manyanswers. Starting with traditional methods such as ‘word of mouth’and Yellow Pages, she led us gently towards exploring more modern methods ofachieving our aims; a regular supply of new customers. But she also taught us

the importance of keeping in touch with existing ones.I know that I, for one, am not good at that; if I don’t havetime to remind old customers, they do get neglected. This iswhere Social Media can be a part of our ‘marketing mix’.By adding a link to our Facebook page to all emails sent tocustomers, they can be ‘connected’ to whatever we’re doing.But Heidi didn’t advocate a choice between engaging insocial media and having a website – both are important inthat they reinforce each other. Yes, it takes a lot of time andeffort to get started in this hi-tech kind of marketing, but therewards do start to come quite quickly – that’s the beauty ofour interconnected world. Instead of paying hundreds of

pounds on, say, a Yellow Pages (Hibu) advertisement, perhaps a few hours onyour computer would ultimately be more lucrative?

Facebook: You have to sign up with a personal page first, which anyone cansee and add comments to providing you have accepted them as ‘friends’. Onceyou’ve stated where you live and what your interests are, Facebookautomatically finds ‘friends’ for you, and you can make a request to them to betheir ‘friend’. But as a Facebook Member, you can then make a separate pagefor your business, and no-one else can post comments on there, only you can.Therefore, if anyone wants to gripe about you (including competitors, perhaps)you are protected from negativity. Sothe business page is the one youpromote on your website, not yourpersonal page. You can attract interestin your page by adding photos andcomments about your work and otherinteresting events related to the pianoprofession. Whatever you ‘like’ onother pages will appear on your ownpage. It’s all about online activity, and Heidi, after initial scepticism of

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Facebook, devotes about 30 minutes per day to it, because it’s helped her ownbusiness so much.

Twitter: This is a similar kind of social media to Facebook, but you canonly post 140 characters (including spaces) when you make a post, or ‘Tweet’.You can also add photos, as on Facebook. There is plenty of information aboutusing Facebook and Twitter on the web – just search!

Heidi thoroughly prepared her presentation, and geared it towards pianotuners specifically. You can see what I mean by visiting the Members area ofour website (www.pianotuner.org.uk) where her presentation can be seen andstudied. She was an excellent speaker, and her class was well worth attending!

DAMPP CHASER SYSTEMBY CRAIG LOWE SPONSORED BY VALE PIANOSREPORT BY SUSAN O’LEARY

As we took our seats we discovered that Craig had puttogether a handout for each attendee of the class and had leftone on each chair. Actually, it was more of a booklet, A4 andbound, with colour diagrams and clearinformation. In the room there was also agrand piano on its side with the undersideon view which he later used to show thepositioning of the Dampp Chaser System.

Craig began by discussing what thesystem does (maintains the humiditylevel on the underside of the piano at46% relative humidity) and why andwhen the system might be required. He then went on to explain how to assessthe piano and environment to determine if the system would be beneficial. Thesuggestion of a programmable hygrometer with good accuracy was discussedas an essential tool for assessment.

Within the first few pages of the handout there were clear pictures of all thecomponents of the system and how it should be fitted in thepiano. The following pages detailed a step-by-step guide toplanning the installation, the tools required, and how toactually fit the system. Craig went through each step andanswered any questions that arose and ensured that theprocess was clear to us all.

Towards the end of the handout there was a table showing the relatively lowpower consumption of the system (0.864kWh for a grand and 0.564kWh for anupright over a 24 hour period) and some of the other benefits of the system

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over portable ‘room’ equipment such ashumidifiers and dehumidifiers. Therewere also some examples of how to fit thesystem to various different grand pianos.

Before the end of the class we got tosee the upright piano version of thesystem and were briefly shown how to fitit. With the information we now had aboutfitting the grand system, it seemed quite straightforward.

Emma from Fletcher & Newman joined us for the last portion of the classand was able to answer some further questions. Shehanded out a pack to each attendee with printed fittinginstructions for both grands and uprights, somebrochures and catalogues for us and potential customers,and a large fold-out sheet withdrawings of suggested placements

of the system for almost 80 different makes and models ofgrand pianos. Fletcher & Newman also very generouslyincluded a voucher for a discount on each of our firstpurchase of the system.

Our thanks go to Craig and Vale pianos for such amarvellous class.

HEREFORD CONVENTION 2015KEVIN WILLOUGHBY

My visit to the Three Counties Hotel and the PTAConvention was a real eye opener for me. I’m a little sad thatmore students especially from the 3rd year weren’t there toappreciate and feel the capacity that the PTA holds for us allwithin the piano trade. As a ‘Newby’ and a student at Newark,I really felt warmly received and very much at home with like minded folkfrom all across Britain and Ireland.

The lectures I attended were fascinating and I was totally absorbed withinthe subjects. From the “From Fleece to Finished Product” lecture, brilliantlydisplayed by Alex Kerstan, (I nagged John Lord about having Alex come andrepeat this at Newark) to Roger Blackbourn’s class on early tunings (which

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personally I have a real interest in as I used to play a lot of early music on theoboe), and of course Malcolm McKeand’s class comparing the builds,qualities and innovations between Steinway, Fazioli and Bösendorfer pianos,my notepad was filled with so much valuable information that the time justflew ... sadly not enough hours in the day to take in the wealth of knowledgeand experience from so many highly skilled craftsmen.

It really brought it home to me that (said to me before by Simon Howeand Iain Fitzpatrick at the Cambridge Pianoforte Centre – where I’m due tostart working when I finish at Newark) this is where the ‘real’ learning starts!

I felt very privileged and (have to say) humbled to be part of thatConvention and to be in the company of so many wonderful people withwhom I shared the same passion and I felt that it should’ve been for a wholeweek!

The coffee breaks didn’t break the chain of piano-focused attention andI made some good contacts with other Members which I felt was also puttingmyself on the map (so to speak) within the PTA. Meeting Brian Frost againafter his visit to Newark and putting so many other faces to names fromFacebook pages was very inspiring, and of course the jokes and anecdoteswere also part and parcel. Talking of which, it was also great to continue thebanter with Steve from Fletcher & Newman from whom I have already boughtquite a lot of bits n bobs and tools – and was more than happy to losehumiliatingly in my bout of Pucket!

I have told many of the students at Newark about the fundraising auction(which I found highly entertaining, and I won a few handy tools too!) and howit goes towards reducing the costs of the classes and lectures for students whoattend these Conventions.

I’m aware that there have been other PTA Conventions during my studiesat Newark, but for me this Convention was really the event to be seen at.I have been made to feel very much at home and a part of the PTA as a result,as well as enriched by the mere slices of serious information and knowledgeimparted by so many highly skilled people there.

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PTA AGMMINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OFTHE PIANOFORTE TUNERS' ASSOCIATION HELD AT

THE THREE COUNTIES HOTEL, BELMONT ROAD, HEREFORD HR2 7BP ON SATURDAY 16TH MAY, 2015 AT 11.30 a.m.

Those PresentMr B Frost – President (in the Chair), Mr A Jamieson – Treasurer,Members, Associates and PTA students (see list in Minute Book)

President's Opening RemarksThe President welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meeting.

Apologies for AbsenceThese were received from: Neville Tostevin, Nigel Polmear, Bryan King,

Bruce Hayes, Barnaby Fitch, Adrian Carpenter, Garrick Steventon,Barry Caradine, Roberta Caradine, Ron Bird, Simon Bird, Terry Twissell,Roy O’Neil, Peter Metcalfe, Keith Owen, Bill Gray, James Stanton, Fadi Hanna,Rick Ohlendorf

Minutes of the 2014 AGMThe Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at The Mercure Hotel,

Bolton on 17th May, 2014 and published in PTA News June 2014.Minutes were proposed by Mr J Lambert, seconded by Mr Lewis Flisher and

adopted unanimously.President's Report

I am pleased to report that this has been a very active year for Council and theAssociation.

One of the great successes of the year has been ‘PTA Training Days’.An extremely informative Yamaha training day was held at Derek Love’s retailand workshop premises in Reigate, Surrey last October. Over 40 people attendedand it was good to see a mix of old and new faces with an excellent attendancefrom those undergoing training at Newark. Neil Farrar, of Yamaha, gave us allan excellent insight into the workings of the various electronic systems Yamahause in their range of acoustic pianos, and it is hoped to develop this newrelationship with Yamaha further over the next 12 months. A second training daywas held in Stirling in November, supported by Kawai UK, with their senior UKtechnician Manabu Arimori presenting a seminar on electronics in Kawai pianos.The 3rd and final training day was held in London at the Guildhall School ofMusic & Drama in March of this year. PTA Honorary Life Member MalcolmMcKeand gave a lecture on concert tuning stability which followed an excellenttour of the facilities on offer to students. The day was attended by over 50 people,and once again it was good to see some prospective new Members there.

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My thanks go to Matthew Gough who coordinated the ‘Southern’ events and toAndrew Jamieson for coordinating the event in Stirling. Gary Whiteland andAndrew Giller have taken over the running of ‘PTA Training Days’ and the nextone will be with Mario Igrec in London on October 17th this year. It is hopedthat training days will continue to play an important role within the Associationin the future with more being planned in locations other than London.

The new PTA Website has been fraught with problems and has taken muchlonger than any of us thought it would, or should have. Half way through thebuild, having taken advice, Council decided to incorporate the PTA Databaseinto the new website. This will make it possible to update our personal details,and for Members to amend the Post Town they cover. The extra work requireddelayed the development of the site. The site is now finished and up and running.The new forum will follow over the summer which will replace the pianolist.My thanks go to Anne Burton who has worked tirelessly on this project, and hastaken the brunt of everyone’s frustrations about the delays – although they werecompletely beyond Anne’s control – thank you Anne. When this project isfinally finished we will have a first class website and forum.

A very difficult situation occurred last August with postings on a SocialMedia site bearing the Association’s name. Despite requests from Council theposts were not removed and an incredible amount of Council, and PTA Officers’time, has been taken up since these inappropriate posts were made. Council feltthat intervention was necessary to protect the Association as a whole. The matteris now closed and I would like to thank all those on Council for their diligenceand patience whilst we tried to find a solution to the problem. There could havebeen serious implications for the Association if legal action had been taken byaggrieved parties over the posts. I would like to take this opportunity to remindeveryone to think very carefully about what you post – something you may findhumorous may be extremely offensive to others.

On a happier note I am pleased to report that the new official PTA Facebookpage has been extremely successful in raising the profile of the Association.Thanks go to Matthew Gough and Andrew Day for setting up the page, and toAndrew Day for offering to run the page on a day to day basis. Thanks also toColin Crawford for administering the PTA Twitter account.

After a number of years selling advertising space in both the Year Book andPTA News Tania Staite has decided to stand down. The income raised by thesetwo publications is essential to the Association and my thanks go to Tania for allthe hard work she put into this role over the past 12 years. Steven Venn hastaken over selling advertising space in our publications and my thanks to him foroffering to take on this delegated duty.

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Hopefully you will have noticed the ‘new look’ PTA Year Book.As announced last year the data is now merged directly from the PTA Database.My thanks go to Ian Summers for his hard work in bringing this project tocompletion. We must all make sure the data held by the Association is up to datevia the new website as this will be the information that will be used in the ‘datamerge’ every year.

Anne Burton has done an excellent job editing PTA News (PTAN) in her firstyear ‘in charge’. Even in this electronic age PTAN plays a vital role in informingour Membership about the goings on within the Association, and with Anne aseditor it certainly is in a safe pair of hands. Thanks also to Anne for looking afterour advertising campaign. The advertising we do in various specialist musicmagazines plays an important part in raising the profile of the Association

John Lambert has been looking into who would be responsible if theAssociation were to be sued for any financial loss incurred as a direct result ofaction taken by Council. With Council approval, John commissioned legalrepresentatives Furley Page to look into this on our behalf. The conclusion wasthat Council as a whole would be responsible, not just the Trustees. We wereadvised to insure against this possibility and as a result quotes were obtained andan Associate Liability Insurance for £250,000 has been taken out. I would alsolike to thank John for all the work he does as PTA Complaints Officer.Thankfully once again there have been few complaints this year and also thankyou John for offering to continue with this role.

Last year Les Sherlock completed his review and updating of his PTA Historybook. Order forms for ‘hard’ copies were included in PTAN with an ‘e-book’version available as well. My thanks to Les for the considerable time he hasgiven in updating this very important document which charts the history of thePTA from it’s formation in 1913 to the present day.

5 PTA tests were held in London last summer and we gained four newMembers. My thanks to Rick Ohlendorf for coordinating the tests and forSteinway & Sons allowing us to use their facilities at Steinway Hall. A smallchange to the repair test procedure has been approved by Council and an elementof grand regulation will now be included.

Last September Council voted to stop recommending tunings and repair feesto comply with anti-competition legislation. This will need rule 2 (e) to bedeleted from the Associations rules, which will be voted on later in the meeting.

I attended the Europiano Delegates’ meeting in Le Mans in November and theAGM in Frankfurt in April. 2015 is ‘Congress’ year and this will be held inMoscow in September. PTA Member Ken Forrest will be lecturing at theCongress and has kindly agreed to represent the PTA at the Delegates meeting.

We held an extremely successful ‘Meet the PTA’ at Newark and SherwoodCollege in February. Gary Whiteland, Andrew Giller, Gavin Crooks and I carried

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out a presentation to the students on the benefits of PTA Membership which wasfollowed by a Q&A session. The event was very well supported and we gainedseveral new PTA Students. It was also very interesting to see the excellent newfacilities at Newark and it seems the training there is in very good shape.

As our Treasurer Andrew Jamieson will explain in his report later in themeeting there have been a lot of extra expenses for the Association this year.This has been mainly due to the redesign of the Year Book and the new website.These are ‘one off’ expenses and things should begin to settle this year.

As many of you know Andrew has decided to retire from Council havingserved 25 years. For most of that time he has been involved with organising theConvention and for the past 10 years he has been Association Treasurer.Thank you Andrew on behalf of the Executive Council and the Membership forthe enormous time and energy you have given the Association over the past 25years – a mere thank you does not seem nearly enough.

PTA Vice-President Matthew Gough is also standing down from Council thisyear. It has been a great pleasure working with Matthew over the past two yearsand it has really felt like we had a ‘joint’ Presidency during that time. There havebeen some difficult situations we had to encounter during our time as Presidentand Vice- President, but there have also been some extremely rewarding timesas well. Thank you Matthew for all your hard work and diligence.

Another long standing Council Member is also retiring this year – TrusteeJohn Lambert. John has worked extremely hard in the background on severalprojects during his time on Council – the most important one being the Code ofConduct. This took many hours to put together. John has also served as aVice–President and as PTA Complaints Officer – a role John has offered tocontinue with. Thank you John for all your efforts, wise thoughts and hard workduring your time on Council.

Thanks also for those who carry out delegated duties which I have not alreadymentioned. The Convention team work throughout the year to deliver thehighlight of the PTA year – The Annual Convention. Thank you to AndrewJamieson, Michelle Rudd, Lewis Flisher and Annette Summers for all your hardwork over the past 12 months. I would also like to thank Reg Montague forrunning the Library and a thank you to Francis Collinson for reading PTA Newsonto disk for our visually impaired readers.

Finally, thank you to everyone else on Council who freely give up their timeto attend Council Meetings and work in the background.

Sadly we have lost some Members this year who have either passed away orretired, and also some PTA Students have not pursued their career in the pianotrade. We cannot deny that finding new Members is an easy task, but on a morepositive note Membership is still healthy and there are several applicationsin the ‘pipeline’.

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Over the past year the Association has managed to raise its profile within thetrade and the new links we have made this year help to demonstrate that. Goingforward the PTA is in a very strong position to capitalise on the connectionsit has forged and hopefully Membership will grow as a result.

Thank you to all who have supported me over the past 2 years, and I wouldlike to take this opportunity to wish the new Council all the best for thecoming year.

Brian Frost May 2015

Treasurer's ReportMr. A Jamieson presented his Treasurer's report (see Minute file).Adoption of the accounts was proposed by Roger Blackburn, seconded by

Lewis Flisher and adopted unanimously.

Change to Rule 35. (a) (i) 35. (a) Any candidate for the position of President, Vice President or Trustee

must(i) have been a Member of the Association for at least four years and

a Member of the Executive Council for at least two years unless lesser periodsbe permitted by majority vote by the Executive Council.

The rest of Rule 35 remains unchanged.Proposed by Council, seconded by Ralph Long and carried unanimously.

Change to Rule 2Rule 2. (e) is deleted.Rule 2. (f) and (g) are re-numbered 2. (e) and (f) respectively

“Our Policy” in the Yearbook will no longer include,“To advise on tuning and servicing fees”.

Proposed by Council, seconded by Martin Backhouse and carried unanimously.

Election of new Executive CouncilThe following were elected as there had been no other nominations:

President – Mrs Anne BurtonVice President – Mr Gary WhitelandTwo Trustees – Mr Steve Venn, Tania StaiteCouncil Members – Mr Finlay Fraser, Mr Lewis Flisher, Mr Andrew Giller, Ms Michelle Rudd, Mr Shaun McLoughlin,

Ms Yumi Shigeno

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Determination of Fees and Subscriptions from 1st January 2016Fees and subscriptions were proposed by the Executive Council and carried

unanimously.Student Entrance fee £10.00Subscriptions:Members, including Europiano. £175.00 increased to

£200.00 if unpaid within 30 days of the due date.Associates £125.00 increased to

£150.00 if unpaid within 30 days of the due date.Patrons (minimum donation) £80All in favour and carried.

There being no other formal business the Annual General Meeting was closed at12.15p.m.

Date and venue of next AGM – 11.30am 14th May, 2016 at Barnstaple Hotel,Barnstaple, Devon.

Matthew Wilson Andrew Jamieson, Brian Frost & Matthew Gough

David Widdicombe Malcolm McKeand Jenna Sung Allen Wright

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PTA FINANCESANDREW JAMIESON

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The 18 or so of us who gathered in the Worcester Suite on Friday afternoonhad a treat in store. Malcolm has had the good fortune, throughout hisprofessional career, to have been able to work on the best quality instrumentsbuilt today. Thus there can be few, if any, technicians better qualified to guide usthrough the construction features of the Bösendorfer, Fazioli and Steinway grandpianos and point up their differences. From the kerfing of the Bösendorfer’sresonant Viennese-style case to the solid cases of the Fazioli and Steinway,to the varying repetition lever spring types used by these firms over the years,there were few aspects of the piano left untouched in this class.

The Steinway company have held the top concert platform position for somany decades that it seems like for ever. The brilliant minds which conceivedthe original concert grand in the nineteenth century produced an instrumentwhich has inspired imitation from most other firms which aspired to equal oreven surpass their achievement. The Bösendorfer came from a very differenttradition, and many pianists express a preference for its subtle differences intreble and bass tone. It was interesting to hear that the venture into using theSteinway duplex system was forced by the Japanese agency, and their pianoswith this feature were not intended to remain in Europe, although some fewmay have done so. Their open-faced planks were covered with a full webbingfor a while, removing a feature which Malcolm considers one of the designdetails which surpasses all the other makes with their fully webbed wrest planks,and even, for a while in the Fazioli, including plate bushings. The Fazioli usesthe basic Steinway concept, but the consummate engineer, Paulo Fazioli hashoned and perfected many details which improve on the actual manufacturingresults achieved by the original Steinway. Here we can mention the moveableduplex bridges of the Fazioli and its capo d’astro beryllium insert for the treble

‘iron’ bridge. The history of the different instruments was touched on, from the oldest,

Bösendorfer, to the youngest, the Fazioli. Small details hung in the air totantalise, like the shadowy Telloni (even the spelling of his name was uncertain)who lurks behind the team which Paulo Fazioli brought together to help himdesign the piano of his dreams. Telloni made pianos for Michelangeli andtechnicians who know of him speak with hushed reverence, but the Internet

PIANO COMPARISONSA COMPARISON OF BÖSENDORFER, FAZIOLIAND STEINWAY & SONS GRAND PIANOSSPONSORED BY JAQUES SAMUEL PIANOSMALCOLM MCKEANDREPORT BY KEN FORREST

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When I read about this class I thought it would be veryinteresting back ground information on hammers and thereproduction. It ended up as one of the most practical and usefulclasses I have every attended. Alex and Steingraeber Pianoshave a great attitude to passing on his knowledge and experience

“We are all interested in getting the best out of the instrument”We did go from fleece to the finished product learning

many new things along the way – why some Chinesehammers are so hard on the outside and the amount ofwool that goes into making a set of hammers is amazing!

We also spent some time looking at the newideas/features Steingraeber's can and do fit to their pianos.If this class is ever repeated I would recommend thatyou attend.

Thank you Alex Kerstan and Steingraeber Pianos;a very interesting and enjoyable morning.

FROM FLEECE TO FINISHED PRODUCTALEX KERSTANREPORT BY MICHAEL SYSON

search engines have a hard time finding a single reference to his career orachievements – anyone know enough about him for a future article? There wastoo much packed into this class even to summarise concisely, but I hope that thisreview gives you some of the flavour of our treat.

The Worcester Suite is rather small, and we were not able to ‘crawl all over’the pianos as Malcolm had hoped, as they had to be rather squashed together.However, the participants in the class were happy enough disappearing undereach in turn to view the superb finish on the underside of the Fazioli, the simpleand effective lyre mounting of the Bösendorfer and the ‘acoustic bell’ of theSteinway which caused such controversy in a recent piano competition. We weretreated to a view of the new Fazioli mechanism, a complete redesign of theaction which is so secret that even Malcolm had not seen the action model sentby Jacques Samuel before he unwrapped it in front of us – (photos, videos andeven sound recordings forbidden!)

We were given a tantalising glimpse into the rarefied world of the concertpiano and the pressures which contribute to new developments, as well as thediffering viewpoints of the three quite different firms which still manage to holdthe powerful Far Eastern instrument makers at arm’s length. Our thanks go toMalcolm McKeand for a fascinating class, as well as to Jacques Samuel whogenerously sponsored it.

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STEINWAY VOICING MASTERCLASSMATTHEW WILSONSPONSORED BY STEINWAY & SONSREPORT BY PATRICK SYMES

I was very fortunate to attend Matthew Wilson’s class at thePTA convention, introduced and supported by David Widdicombe.His class comprised of a great balance between describing and demonstrating thetechniques he had learnt through his training and work as a Steinway technician,and giving the class time to try things out for themselves.

Steinway had provided a model A forMatthew to demonstrate on, as well as fouraction models fixed to work tables around theroom. The room was a little small for everyoneto fit comfortably but, given the generosity ofmaterials and the enthusiasm with whichMatthew conducted his class, I believeeverybody happily accepted this.

The first part of the class ranged throughtechnical advice on all aspects of the toning of Steinway hammers, and looked atthe toning of new as well as used hammers. From the hand-out “TechnicalInstructions for the Tone Regulation of Steinway Grands”, ‘We differentiatebetween three diverse and non-coinciding tone regulation operations at ourfactory: a) first tone regulation, preceded by first action regulation, mounting ofdamper parts and tuning; b) second tone regulation, preceded by second actionregulation and final tuning, c) final tone regulation.’

Although we were given a hand-out detailing the technical instructions fortoning new Steinway hammers, it quickly became apparent that Matthew had fullyabsorbed the detail in his years as a Steinway technician and was happy to give amore flexible presentation of the various techniques and his own observations.

‘The feel for the tonal character of an instrument is purely intuitive and cannotbe explained.’

Some of the given technical advice for toning new hammers included: only useSteinway Hamburg hammers; the first tone usually takes 16 hours; always faceand tone new hammers — this removes the fluffy outer layer of felt and gives thefelt elasticity and a width to the tone; needle length should be set to reach about2 mm from underfelt; use fewer needles where necessary in harder felt;the fundamental requirement is to achieve full dynamic range.

And some observations: toning requires achieving a balance between what thepiano (and hammers) can give, what you want, and what the customer wants;don’t act robotically: respond to what the elasticity of the felt tells you; toningissues are often regulation, or action friction issues.

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Matthew then ran through the procedure for the secondtoning. This involved setting guide hammers as well as givinginstruction on how to test for tonal balance across the keyboard.

For the third toning, Matthew was down to problem-solvingfor individual notes. He took us through reducing buzzingovertones, ironing to bring up slightly soft notes and a handytrick for reducing clicks caused by capo d’astro bar grooves.

The class was then invited to do some needling themselves.This gave us an opportunity to try out different toning tools onthe actions provided. I learned the difficulty of needling to the correct depth, andthe benefit that reducing the number of needles in my toning tool makes.

After the lunch break Matthew moved on to the shaping of hammers and thefitting of hammers to strings. He demonstrated his preferred technique of shapingusing strips of sandpaper rather than paddles, but stiffening and strengthening thestrips by backing them with tape.

The class were then given collections of strips with whichto try out the technique, with Matthew on hand for advice orfurther discussion.

When demonstrating fitting hammers to strings, we wereshown how to prop up the line of hammers so that they couldbe more easily reached through the string line. This was doneby inserting a keyboard-length strip of felt beneath the rollersbefore sliding the action in to the piano. Matthew also pointedout how important it was during this process not only to check

that the hammers fitted beneath the pin block,but that the underneath of the pin block was first wiped clean toavoid marking the hammer noses.

We were also shown Matthew’s technique for ironing as thefinal stage of facing hammers. This was an opportunity forMatthew to display his own type of hammer iron – half a ceramichair straightener! He explained that it was many times faster thanstandard hammer irons to heat up and cool down again, and hadthe huge advantage of having a temperature gauge on it.

The final part of the class was a demonstration in lacquering hammers. Thiswas of particular interest to me as I had never tried or been shown how to do it.Matthew appeared slightly nervous about conducting the demonstration, giventhe small size of the room and the noxiousness of the fumes. We all claimedto be consenting adults and, thankfully, convinced him to continue.

We were given an overview of the American technique of drenching newhammers in lacquer, as compared to the delicate application required onEuropean hammer felts.

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The meeting of the ExecutiveCouncil was held on 16th May at TheThree Counties Hotel, Hereford.

Present wereAnne Burton (President),Gary Whiteland (Vice President),Andrew Jamieson (Treasurer),Lewis Flisher, Shaun McLoughlin,Yumi Shigeno, Tania Staite andStephen Venn.

Apologies were received fromFinlay Fraser, Annette Summers,Andrew Giller.

Anne warmly welcomed newCouncil Members Shaun McLoughlinand Yumi Shigeno.

The Treasurer’s report wascirculated. Andrew Jamieson stooddown as Treasurer and handed overthe accounts to Council. Andrew said

“What an honour it had been to haveserved as PTA Treasurer”

Andrew was thanked by all presentfor his hard work.

The Secretary was reappointed andit was agreed that her pay be increasedto £20.45 per hour.

After much discussion it wasagreed to offer the position ofTreasurer to Annette Summers andthat the PTA Treasurer receives anhonorarium of £1500 per annum.

A Member using inappropriatelanguage on the Plist was discussed.Anne Burton has drafted a guidancedocument for users of the Forumwhen it goes live:

Stuart Jones passed his PTAMembership Test at the Convention.

The next meeting is scheduled forSaturday 25th July, 2015 at 12pm atRobert Morley & Co. Ltd,, Lewisham.

A full copy of the Minutes isavailable from the PTA Secretary.

PTA COUNCIL REPORTGARY WHITELAND

Matthew explained that ‘a new set of hammers often requires bottom bass andtop treble notes be brought up to match the tone of the tenor three or four octaves’,and that this could sometimes be done with lacquer.Matthew’s explained that it works by causing thefibres of the felt to contract. His technique is to applythe solution – usually 1:5 lacquer to thinners – bypipette to the bass hammer shoulders, and with the

side of a small paintbrushto the nose of the trebles.

I would like to thankSteinway for providing the materials for this wonderfulclass, and for allowing Matthew to share with us hiswealth of knowledge. Most importantly, thank you toMatthew and David for the effort they put in topresenting such a successful class on this vital aspectof our beloved instrument.

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17th October 2015PTA Training Day at Steinway Hall, London with Mario Igrec

Advertised on page 7. Booking form enclosedConvention 2016, 11 to 14 May

The Barnstaple Hotel, Barnstaple, Devon

Convention 2017, 10 to 13 MayMercure Shrewsbury Albrighton Hotel & Spa, Shrewsbury

For enquiries, PTA goods, changes of address or contact details:Mrs Annette Summers. PTA SecretaryPO Box 230HAILSHAM BN27 9EATel: 0845 602 8796Email: secretary@pianotuner.org.uk

PTA DIARY

The PTA is most grateful for all the helpand support given at our Convention by:Broughton PianosH J Fletcher & Newman LtdJaques Samuel PianosKawai UK LtdRobert Morley & Co LtdSteingraeber & SöhneSteinway & SonsVale Pianos

Sue VernonPucket Champion