Piano Tuning by J. Cree Fischer: Book Review 2025
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"Piano Tuning A Simple and Accurate Method for Amateurs by J. Cree Fischer;" a book review.
This piano tuning book was quite rudimentary. It's more of an exploratory book about some music theory topics and piano tuning repair for novices.
Author's purpose: J. Cree Fischer's purpose of this book is to introduce more folks to the piano industry, primarily (in his own words) because of the lack of proficient technicians readily available as a whole.
I think it could be said that this book is meant for those who are unfamiliar with music in general, it's the type of book that will "wet your whistle" if you're first coming across the idea of doing any work on a piano.
It explores several different topics, and is an extremely broadly based book, which is a fantastic starting place for 'amateurs.' However, there are many other piano tuning books that are better.
Here it shares the classic string splice loop, which is one of the technical tests included in the Registered Piano Technician exam.
It's a nice little book to first become acquainted with the piano and some piano technology topics. Again, it's rudimentary, elementary, exploratory, and just getting started type of book.
Here it shares an upright piano diagram of the action to give the reader some food for thought. It's not to scale, but it can help visualize the interior of the upright piano.
The book can best be described as an exploration in your new interest of piano tuning.
It does not get into very specific methods or detailed methods, and is a very surface level basic easy writings, by an earnest piano tuner hoping that more individuals would join the trade.
For those considering serious study of piano tuning, one should look elsewhere.
Here is the side diagram of a grand piano action (again, not to scale). Though, it helps to visualize what's inside of the piano for those first learning.
Again, this book is not comprehensive, it is only something to get started.
Some of the repairs described are quite simple and the explanations are "word of mouth," so not very analytical and are not always the best methods. I won't recommend this book to serious piano tuners at all, only because I think time is better spent reading other books.
To some degree, I would hardly recommend it to anybody who's mildly interested with piano tuning. This is mostly because of the much better books available on the market today.
When this book was written, there was much less quality reading material available for eager piano technicians.
Here is a side view diagram of a Square Grand Action piano, which is not relevant for most piano technicians. Though, it is a homage to how pianos were built over a hundred years ago, which an exploratory book should cover.
If you are someone who has cultivated a small interest, or even tunes pianos as a hobby, then maybe I'll recommend this book to such a person.
Since this book is not very useful when compared to many of the other great books on the marketplace. It's simply an exploratory book to learn about what it may be like for a piano tuner from afar, though much other education would be a necessary supplement to the topic of piano technology.
I think this book serves the authors purpose, which is to endear the general public, to increase their interest in pianos because in the very beginning, he had mentioned that there aren't enough piano tuners especially those who are remotely adequately skilled. So, I suppose this serves the authors purpose in general in an attempt to increased interest in piano tuning for the general population of people.
I gave away a few of these books to my local "little library," because it's truly a book for the general public to get a brief glimpse into a few basic topics of piano technology.
Related:
Piano Books for Piano Technicians
Piano Buyer by Hannah Beckett Book Review
Piano Tuning by J. Cree Fischer: Book Review 2024
Piano Servicing Tuning and Rebuilding by Arthur A Reblitz
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which can provide compensation to me at no cost to you if you decide to purchase.