EB5AGV's Workbench: YAMAHA U3H

My first acoustic piano

On my quest to learn to play the piano, I bought on February 2020 (yes, weeks before the COVID lockdown!) a 1976 YAMAHA U3H. These pages will depict the work I make on it, mostly maintenance, as it was a nicely refurbished unit.


U3H arrival

I bought it from a recording studio in the nearby city of Valencia on February 2020. These are pictures of it as arrived.

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H

Yamaha U3H


Tuning: Pianometer (I)

The piano was tuned on March 2020, just a week before the lockdown. Fast-forward to January 2022 and, after two COVID-full years, I knew another tuning was long due. But, over these two years, I have learned about piano mechanics and have decided to give a try to piano tuning.

I posted this on Piano World on 7-January-2022:

On my quest to tune my Yamaha U3H piano, I was advised to check Pianometer. I have read all this thread (it has taken some hours), it is amazing how it has evolved over the years. I have downloaded it, both for Android and for iPad and, after checking both, I have got better audio pickup from the Android one, so I have bought the Plus option for Android.

The fisrt check, before buying it, had been a full (all 88 notes) scan (as unisons are not too bad, I have done it as a first check without muting them). It has generated a curious (for me) result. Note that the LA4 reading is just due to noise when capturing the image, it is really closer to that. But the important thing is that the app shows an streching very different of what is currently done on the piano. Of course, now it needs tuning, but I doubt it has changed so much from the last tune it was made to show such a discrepancy.

Here you have my 1976 Yamaha U3H current tuning measurements:

Yamaha U3H Pianometer

Yamaha U3H Pianometer

I was puzzled with the result... So, before touching anything, I have thought of trying other U3s... Well, I have just mine but, what about checking with U3-based VSTs?. My thinking was that if the stretching curves generated were similar, I would be more confident that my U3H could be tuned following those results. I hope I was not completely mad for doing this test, my engineering mind decided it was a good idea.

So here you have the results of three different VSTs. Again, don't be fooled by the shown center note Pianometer reading, the important thing are the curves.

First, I have tried VI Labs Modern U, which is a good sounding sampled modern U3:

Modern U Pianometer

Modern U Pianometer

Then I have tried a modelled U3 (which should be perfect!), the Pianoteq U4:

Pianoteq U4 Pianometer

Pianoteq U4 Pianometer

And then the XLN Modern Upright, probably sampled from an older U3:

XLN Modern Upright Pianometer

XLN Modern Upright Pianometer

After these unusual tests, my conclusions are:

So now I should be brave enough to get into the tuning process. I know I need to proceed using mutes to recalculate the tuning curve, but I guess it won't change a lot. Any hint for a newcomer to tuning?. I have a decent tuning tool-set and am handy with mechanics. I am also studying the Reblitz book and have watched several videos. I will proceed with care.

Any hint on the tuning procedure will be welcomed. My first idea is to follow the information at the Pianometer site.

Thanks for your help!

Jose


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