Piano tuning fun and games!

[S Clark]

I decided to tun our piano today.  It's been so long that our piano tuner had died, so I bought a tuning hammer and some dampers, downloaded a tuning app, and got started.  I've actually got quite good pitch, so what could go wrong?

Damn, I miss our tuner.  This is hard work, and after a couple of hours, I had to back away for a while.  But, overall, things were going well when I decided to go down to the single string section- which should be the easiest.  So I'm tuning low C and just need to get about a half tone, gently tapping the hammer and POW!
So now I have a broken wire. 
An hour break, some time finding replacement strings on the WWW, and I'm back at it  I go up to the next to last octave where I can still hear the beats, and it's time to go bAck to the low notes.  This time I"m REALLY careful, going slow, and bringing C2 up to pitch slowly, sooo slowly... but not slow enough.  POW!!

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?  (Besides not finding another piano tuner).

[tmazz]

Just remember, you can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.   

(After all that frustration I thought you might need a levity break.)

All kidding aside, I will ask our church organist, who is also an accomplished pianist and a music teacher and see if he has any ideas.

[Folsom]

I know just enough to know that I'd never try

[Tam Lin]

So I'm tuning low C and just need to get about a half tone, gently tapping the hammer and POW!
So now I have a broken wire. 

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

First of all, you don't tap the hammer, you pull it gently, like a precision torque wrench. Second, assuming the piano was more or less in proper tune, you shouldn't have to change the pitch of any string by half a tone. That's crazy and should have been seen as a big red flag, i.e., you are doing something very wrong.
P.S. I spent several years of my earlier life as a guitar/piano tech and harpsichord builder.

[S Clark]

So I'm tuning low C and just need to get about a half tone, gently tapping the hammer and POW!
So now I have a broken wire. 

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

First of all, you don't tap the hammer, you pull it gently, like a precision torque wrench. Second, assuming the piano was more or less in proper tune, you shouldn't have to change the pitch of any string by half a tone. That's crazy and should have been seen as a big red flag, i.e., you are doing something very wrong.
P.S. I spent several years of my earlier life as a guitar/piano tech and harpsichord builder.

Thanks.  That was very helpful.  I say a half tone, but perhaps 1-2 hertz is more accurate.  It's been 10-15 years since this piano has been tuned. Would it help to release the tension and slowly bring it back up?  Are there points that should get lubrication?  The two strings that broke did so right at the coil on the  pin.

[Tam Lin]

I say a half tone, but perhaps 1-2 hertz is more accurate.

In the lowest octave a half tone is 1-2 hertz.

Would it help to release the tension and slowly bring it back up?

Only if you want to break more strings.

If the piano is a half tone low overall, leave it where it is. It's probably close to A=415 which, not so long ago, was the recognized concert pitch. If you're not going to perform with other musicians who can't or won't tune their instruments to match your piano, there is no problem.
Regardless, hire someone who knows how to do it correctly. I doubt your string replacement was done properly.

[S Clark]

Thank you for the good advice.  I'll check with the local university music dept. to see who they use.  I've got most of the piano done at 440 tuning, but I'll back off and take a professional's recommendation.