DIY piano tuning, tree trimming and christmas tree growing

[Neustache]

A 3 in 1 post!

We have an old piano and tried three different pro tuners and for various reasons none of them wanted to work on it.  So we are going to do it ourselves, or rather, hubby, who has near perfect pitch, is going to attempt it. He'll use the tuning fork and probably some device to really get it on pitch.  We bought a kit for $40, and after about 20 youtube videos later he'll attempt it.  I'm always encouraging him to learn new skills, so this will be fun.  Hubby is very cautious, and has worked on stringed instruments before, so he's not too intimidated by it.  Chime in if you've done this before...with good or terrible results!

Tree trimming...sigh.  Our front tree needs to be trimmed, had an arborist come by and he quoted us $500 for the job (super tall oak).  He seemed very knowledgeable, and now I'm afraid of DIY, because it seemed like there's a bit of science behind it.  Any thoughts?

And finally, Christmas trees.  Hubby insists on chopping down a real tree every year, whereas I would be fine with a pre-lit fake tree.   The place we like to go to was $50 for the tree, but the kids really love going there.   But holy moly, $50 for a tree that lasts two weeks kills me a little inside.  I think we are zone 6, and the place we go is in our same zone, so I'm thinking we buy some seedlings, and in a couple of years we'll have trees to chop down out of our yard.  Thoughts on this?  I like to chop them down ourselves because I never know how old the ones are in the lots, and I want a tree that's still drinking water. 

That's it.  Please chime in if you have any experience with one or all of these DIY projects.

[Pigeon]

The first two I would pay for. Dh does trim our trees up to a point, but when I worry for his safety, we call somebody.

We have done the third when we had a big enough lot with good results. A local organization gave out free seedlings every year and we'd plant a few.

[Jags4186]

A 3 in 1 post!

We have an old piano and tried three different pro tuners and for various reasons none of them wanted to work on it.  So we are going to do it ourselves, or rather, hubby, who has near perfect pitch, is going to attempt it. He'll use the tuning fork and probably some device to really get it on pitch.  We bought a kit for $40, and after about 20 youtube videos later he'll attempt it.  I'm always encouraging him to learn new skills, so this will be fun.  Hubby is very cautious, and has worked on stringed instruments before, so he's not too intimidated by it.  Chime in if you've done this before...with good or terrible results!

Tree trimming...sigh.  Our front tree needs to be trimmed, had an arborist come by and he quoted us $500 for the job (super tall oak).  He seemed very knowledgeable, and now I'm afraid of DIY, because it seemed like there's a bit of science behind it.  Any thoughts?

And finally, Christmas trees.  Hubby insists on chopping down a real tree every year, whereas I would be fine with a pre-lit fake tree.   The place we like to go to was $50 for the tree, but the kids really love going there.   But holy moly, $50 for a tree that lasts two weeks kills me a little inside.  I think we are zone 6, and the place we go is in our same zone, so I'm thinking we buy some seedlings, and in a couple of years we'll have trees to chop down out of our yard.  Thoughts on this?  I like to chop them down ourselves because I never know how old the ones are in the lots, and I want a tree that's still drinking water. 

That's it.  Please chime in if you have any experience with one or all of these DIY projects.

Pianos need tempered tuning.  To achieve that on 88 keys requires a professional.  By all means give it a shot, but I think hubby is going to spend hours doing something that won't sound very good.

[Neustache]

Pianos need tempered tuning.  To achieve that on 88 keys requires a professional.  By all means give it a shot, but I think hubby is going to spend hours doing something that won't sound very good.

Ha!  Yes, he very may well, but he's a super patient person, and he's the type that is willing to suck hours into something and still fail.  I am NOT that person.  He also knew what the tempered tuning was, and he plays and studies sitar, and the scales in sitar/eastern music are nothing like western music.  So he seems to think that because he's used to weird tunings he has a decent shot at this.  But if he fails we can try a 4th tuner.  The reasons the tuners didn't want to work on it were 1. too far to drive out here 2.  Bad shoulder (it's an old upright) and 3. The piano is too old and it's a money pit.  The last guy wanted to sell us a newer piano, which just isn't going to happen.  So we'll try this.  It was tuned before by his uncle about 15 years ago, just hasn't been tuned since.  Uncle is in CA and we are in the Midwest so not an option for us now. 

[lizzzi]

I'm wondering what that piano sounds like if it hasn't been tuned for 15 years. If anyone is going to play it, it needs to be in tune…especially for the kids. I don't think it good for their "ear" to always be playing or hearing an instrument that's out of tune. If nobody is going to play it, it's just furniture, and why even bother having it. It's good that your husband is going to give it a shot, but if he can't get it in tune, I think that whatever it takes, you should get somebody out there to tune it. I'm wondering if you could offer to pay mileage or something, if you're really far off the beaten track for a professional tuner.

[Weedy Acres]

Tree trimmers are known for throwing scare tactics into their sales pitches so they can charge exhorbitant fees.  Go get yourself educated on youtube or arborist forums, rent a little tow-behind lift to get up high, and DIY it.

[Neustache]

@weedyacres - see...that's what I was wondering.  He seemed pushy and judgy, and definitely made me feel like we were going to screw it up or someone else would screw it up.  I'll see what I can learn online about it.  Hubby has been in tree stands lately so his fear of heights is almost gone.  Nothing like exposure therapy to get one over the hump!


@lizzzi, surprisingly, it's not terrible. It's been fifteen years and 2 moves since it was tuned.  But if it were better, it would get played on much more.  I'd like the kids to take lessons, but yeah, I wouldn't want them playing it much now, if for nothing else, it's not super nice to listen to as an audience member.  Hubby plays it here and there...will compose a bit on it...but would play much more if it were in tune.   We are a suburb of a major city, the one tuner who didn't want to come out is just one in a suburb on the other side of the city.  There's tuners here, it's just we have been turned down by 3 for 3 different reasons.  Hubby will take a crack at it, and if it doesn't work, we already know another guy that ask.  But having hubby learn this would be a great, as then we wouldn't have to pay for it or ask around for others to do it.  Plus, I'm always looking at DIY projects for him that might also be a good 'retirement' income.  He's usually game, because he likes to dive in and become an expert at things. 

[Kevan]

I've repaired stringed instruments (but not a piano) and I never found it to be as difficult as I was warned.  Tempered tuning is a trick, but it's not magic.  When you know what you're trying to do, and how it's done, you just do it.

I fully sympathize with the tuners who declined the job because of distance and the instrument's condition.  Tuners do a lot of repairing and replacing as they get an instrument to where it can "hold a tune."  On a clunker, it usually takes three visits over a span of many weeks.  If the instrument proves unsatisfactory after all that, the technician gets blamed.

Go for it.

[zolotiyeruki]

I fully sympathize with the tuners who declined the job because of distance and the instrument's condition.  Tuners do a lot of repairing and replacing as they get an instrument to where it can "hold a tune."  On a clunker, it usually takes three visits over a span of many weeks.  If the instrument proves unsatisfactory after all that, the technician gets blamed.

That's actually a very good point.  My parents' piano hadn't been tuned for several years, and although it *sounded* like it was still in tune, the whole keyboard was 1/4 step flat.  Because of that, the tuner had to come twice--once to get the piano back up to pitch, and then a second time a few weeks later to get it perfect.

I actually want to do the Christmas tree thing.  Sure, it's a long time before it pays off, but how fun (and cheap!) would it be to harvest your Christmas tree from your own back yard!?

[Neustache]

The kids will be the biggest issue with the Christmas tree - my daughter commented how fun it is to go to the tree farm and how she wanted to take her kids there someday.  A tradition was accidentally made, I think.  I can recreate the hot cocoa, and the outdoor fire, but the HUGE malamute that the kids love I won't be able to recreate. Ha!

That makes total sense about the tuners.  We'll try the 4th one if my husband is not successful.   

[Matthew]

I have a little experience with all 3:

1.  Piano tuning is fun, challenging, and for me, very time-consuming.  I have basic tools, taught myself just like your husband is doing, and have tuned ours a few times.  It's not a professional tuning, but it's good enough for us.  I'd encourage him to go for it.  We have 3 kids, and the main difficulty is having the house quiet for long enough to get it done.

2.  If there's not much risk of damaging buildings or needing to get into some weird contortion with a chainsaw, definitely do it yourselves.  A friend with a pickup truck and a long rope can be very helpful.

3.  We kept a lot of evergreens in the yard growing up, but could never bring ourselves to cut one down for a Christmas tree.  We'd always either hike off into the woods to find one (usually the top section of a tall one) or buy one from the boy scouts.  If you have access to forested land, I think taking an afternoon with the kids to hunt for a tree is the most fun way.  Easy to do where we are, but I realize that may not be the case for you.  If you get into growing your own, there are some fancy super-long trimmers the pros use to make the nice shape (usually a tractor pto attachment), and I think you're looking at about 8 years before harvesting.

[Neustache]

@matthew

Thank you! 

Yes, on the piano tuning, I already told my husband I'll need to leave with the kids for a couple of hours when he attempts it.  Way too hard to do it with kids in the house. 

I'm new to tree trimming - what's the long rope for?  LOL

The kind of tree we like is white pine, which I think grows quite fast.  We have access to land with trees, but where we are, it's mostly deciduous trees and I doubt there's any evergreens.  But I do wonder if we'd get attached to the trees we grow and not want to cut them down.  Ha! 

[Thegoblinchief]

What needs to be trimmed on the oak and how high off the ground is it? Is it near a house? The two main reasons to hire a pro is the difficulty of getting up into the tree and the challenges of dropping branches near houses without damaging anything. If he's okay climbing (with a harness) and it's not near the house, go for it.

Keep in mind oaks MUST be pruned when dormant to avoid the oak wilt virus.

On the piano tuning, once it is back in tune, humidity levels can help it stay in tune longer.

For the trees, yes white pine is fast growing. It sounds weird, but I've noticed a few farms in my area have "dig your own evergreen" lots where you can dig up your own tree and pay a nominal $5 on the honor system. Might be worth keeping an eye out to get seedlings cheaper than a nursery.

Personally, I'd rather not take up good yard space with an evergreen instead of either grass for kids play area or garden for food production.

[Matthew]

The rope is for directional control of falling branches.  If the branch is larger than a couple inches across, it's nice to tie the rope as far out as possible, then have someone on the ground pulling in the right direction.  If the branch is very large (or you're taking down a whole tree), attach the rope to a vehicle and pull by driving.  Slowly.  Just make sure the person in the vehicle can hear the person in the tree.  BTW, if the rope is too short, you'll just pull the branch onto your head.  Have fun!