On Fri, 3 Nov 1995, John Musselwhite wrote: > Here is an extract from an article in the Journal a few years ago about how > pitch "standards" have changed... perhaps it might help? >... > 1879 A=449.7 London. Pitch of the Opera Orchestra at Covent > Garden during performance > 1879 A=454.7 London. Tuning fork used by Steinway & Sons to > tune pianos in London. > 1879 A=457.2 New York. From a tuning fork used by Steinway & ... > That was a fascinating article... unfortunately it doesn't say which issue > and who the author was in the bit I typed out back then. ______________________ I believe the original source of this information on pitch standards was Alexander Ellis's appendix to Helmholtz's "On the Sensations of Tone." Ellis compiled an exhaustive table of pitch standards through the years, only a fraction of which appeared in the PTJ article. There is certainly no doubt that by 1884, Broadwood was tuning to an A well above 440. All that aside, however, my experience with Broadwoods of that vintage is that if you attempt to tune them even to A=440, you will most likely break some strings. Try tuning it about 40 or 50 cents flat (A=430 or or 428). All this assumes original strings on the instrument. If you restring, you'll be safe at 440. That is, the strings will be safe. The structure of the instrument is another question. I can't remember if you said whether the piano has a one-piece casting or a bolt-together frame. If it's a bolt-together iron frame with an exposed pinblock, I wouldn't pull it up to 440 even with new strings because the pinblock may not take it. If a one-piece casting covering the pinblock, it still depends upon te condition of the pinblock itself. Good luck! Steve Brady, RPT "The most expert and rapid tuners are... University of Washington possessed of a highly excitable, sbrady@u.washington.edu nervous, and emotional temperament, verging on the border of insanity at times." -Daniel Spillane, The Tuner's Guide
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