Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-11-12
Bob>Qqss
Ddvii/NY
2tBn5c82
Tales From Vancouver Island'
The Piano Tuner

| 4 \ ney river, IlSlllS III TIC
| neighborhood of the Forbidden
Plateau, lies ComoS, one of the
surest shot salmon fishing centers
in all British Columbia. Whose
ever vets spoon in these waters
sooner or later brings in swim
mer that will tip the scales any
where from twenty-five to sixty
pounds.
These are everyday figures any
time from the middle of July up to
the first week in September. Many
Of the guides who handle tourists
during the salmon season are other
wise occupied in trade and profess
sions the remainder of the year,
termed by them as the "slack pc
| Rod"
Occasionally a guide inadvertent-
ly referring to his legitimate occupa-
ton will let slip something worth
while, thus enlivening the intervals
between bites, and there are inter
vals-in everything. If interrupted
by strike, the conversation ter
inmates in the middle of SEN
tence, and he is again fisherman.
From the guide staff at the Elk
hotel, overlooking the salmon
waters, 1 drew Stephen Erickson,
giant of a man who could make
skiff behave like an airplane in
any sort of tide. And he knew
where the salmon were. In the
course of our victorious raid, in
quired as to what might be his job
when winter came.
Bob Can't Tell Lie.
"Piano tuning" he said, without
changing the rhythm of his stroke,
headquarters in Vancouver. For
the last ten years, come August, 1
take two or three weeks vacation
at sComox, guiding anglers. When
off duty, I fish for my own anuse-
ment. For that brief interlude from
harmonizing the seven and one
third octaves between A natural in
the lower scale and C natural in
the upper, I live an entirely separ-
| ate existence, without w h c b.. I
should 60 mad Do you play the
| piano."
Had he asked about my. ability
as an angler, I could have lied like
any other fisherman. But being
minus in matters musical, I came
clean and confessed, However, it
had long been my desire to get a
piano tuner cornered long enough
to make a few inquiries on the sub
| ject of piano construction. what
is the pressure on each string when
it is in tune?" asked.
"Reel in the line and have look
at your spoon. We are passing
through float sea weed-an average
of 100 pounds should say. That
figure applies to each string from
the shortest, two and quarter
inches in the treble to the longest,
thirty-nine inches in the bass.
Piano Stands Punishment. ).
"The combined pressure repre-
scented in the Lightweight strings of
a properly tuned piano is about
fifteen tons, which tension, pre-
served by equal distribution, is i'm
perative in keeping an instrument
in tune. Most complicated and del
icate in point of construction, is the
sounding board.
"Perfect strings, fawless tuning
and the finest of key movements
will not avail if the sounding board
is defective in the slightest par
ticular. The average instrument,
played in the household, should be
tuned every four months; every
three months in warm climates.
Professional musicians carry a
piano tuner with them and point
up the instrument before each
recital. There are pianists who are
like automobile drivers, and can
throw an instrument out of key in
no time"
Fewer and Better Makers.
"From where do the best strings
Gomez"
"Up to few years ago, Germany
was far in advance, but with the
development of steel in the United
States, piano strings reached per-
lection. There was a time when
fine copper wire was used to wind
twenty strings in the lower register.
Recently it was discovered that
soft iron could be wound tighter
and produce better tones than cop
per, although both are still in use.
| Only to the most sensitive ear is
there perceptible difference.
Player pianos, operated mechani-
cally, made tremendous advance,
enabling the worlds greatest con-
cert players to reproduce technic
and tone flawless to the nth de-
| gree. Mechanical music has made
great inroads in piano manufacture,
as also has radio
"What is the future for piano
manufacturers?
Fewer and better builders. Be-
fore the war, more than fotir hum
dred accredited firms we're listed.
Wholesale reorganization. reduced
The number to- less than fifty. There
will be- less. We ought to get a
strike right along here by the red