[CAUT] How long to stabilize??

[Keith Roberts]

I deal with pianos out of the crate. If they are sharp, leave them. They
will be like the others soon. I tune them at the pitch they are. The unison
stability is what you are looking for.
I tune to 441 at least. A larger grand 442 if it is really green.
On the 3rd tuning, when it is starting to look stable and the tension has
sucked up all the slack, the coils will let loose when you are fine tuning a
unison and the pitch drops 20c. I thought it was my hammer technique at
first. <grin> then I found that if I was a little rougher (jerk the pins
more than needed when settling the pin) I could get the coil to pop.

Getting the chance to tune seems to be your problem

Keith Roberts

On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 6:55 AM, Joe And Penny Goss <imatunr at srvinet.com>wrote:

>  Hi Diane,
> On gransd it depends on wether or not you level and seat the strings. This
> usually involves two to three tunings of the piano in showroom prep for me.
> Uprights seating the strings and mating hammers to strings needed in the
> octaves C5 and up.
> If the piano comes in sharp it is a blessing as seating the bearing points
> will lower the pitch and take one tuning pass out.
> Joe Goss RPT
> Mother Goose Tools
> imatunr at srvinet.com
> www.mothergoosetools.com
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Diane Hofstetter <dianepianotuner at msn.com>
> *To:* College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 18, 2009 5:51 AM
> *Subject:* [CAUT] How long to stabilize??
>
>  I know many of you have written in the past about the problems
> with tuning stability in brand new loaner pianos from manufacturers.
> Fortunately the college where I am tuning has purchased these pianos, so
> they won't disappear just when we get them settled in.
>
> However, my question is this; in a practice room in a small college, how
> long, or how many tunings do you think it will take for the school's new
> Kawai UST-9's  to stabilize in tuning?
>
>  The pianos were  delivered directly to the college from the warehouse
> and uncrated there.  Before that they spent two days in the truck. It was
> snowing outside.
>
> They have Dampp Chaser heating rods and HD humidistats installed, but my
> data logger, which was in their new Boesendorfer between December 4 and
> February 4, showed nothing but too dry.  Every time I have tuned in the
> practice rooms, my humidity gauge reads 36-38% RH.  I do expect the humidity
> to go up to around 60% in the spring.
>
> Each piano has received one pitch adjustment--usually pitch raises, but two
> of them took lowering--and one tuning since the beginning of February when
> they were delivered.  Already I want to tune a couple of them again, but
> this is not in the budget or mindset of either the store that sent me out or
> the college who now owns the pianos.  They all think the tunings should be
> stable already.
>
> Experienced opinions gratefully received!
> Diane Hofstetter
>
>
>
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