J. CREE FISCHER
PIANO TUNING
A SIMPLE AND ACCURATE METHOD FOR AMATEURS
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. NEW YORK
Copyright © 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 The following sections have been omitted from the present edition because they were out-of-date: Practical Application of Piano Tuning as a Profession, Business Hints, Ideas in Advertising, and Charges for Services.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 [Pg ii] 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 occupationpersons 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