Cross-country piano move

[TunerJeff@aol.com]

Dear Al,

     Yes, we received your post to the BYU-TechList (...and the private one
earlier, too.)
Your customer should have no problems with the Baldwin. Do allow a few weeks
for the instrument to adjust to it's new "micro-climate",  and you were quite
correct to comfort your customer's (justifiable) fears. Here's my
view--------------

1.If a piano is simply moved across town; I like to give it 3 to 5 days to
'settle' after the stresses of the move. 7 to 10 for shifting from a
clapboard cottage to a fully insulated 'new house' . Not too long, really.

2. If the piano is moved across the state; 10 to 14 days.(Not including
mountains and seashores!!!) If areas have similiar humidity and temps... then
7 to 10 is fine.

3. If the piano is from out of state; ...well ... that depends. Was it moved
from Arizona? Was it moved from New England? Was it moved from Montana? The
more dramatic the climate shift, the more time I will allow for
're-adjustment'. But never more than 30 to 45 days. (...partially because I
fear the occasion that a piano arrives... and goes radically UP in pitch! I
don't like leaving a stranger to the area alone for too long, I always want
to get my fingers in there!)

      Don't usually have problems I can pin (...blame?) on climate. But have
had regulation and tuning 'go off' after as much as 6 to 8 months on
relocated pianos with a dramatic climate shift. Oregon is very kind to
pianos, really. Didn't see many pianos lock-up with moisture after moves to
the Coast either... but a few have made complaints with slow hammers and
such.

      What I want to know is this; What about you guys in Alaska, Canada, and
Hawai??? Ever have a piano arrive on your shores... and give up the ghost? I
can imagine a pinblock, soundboard, or set of old glue joints surendering to
a big shift... but I've never seen it. Have you? (Not counting horror stories
of "heated" storage units, or leaving a piano in the garage 'for a few
weeks', or the remains of pianos after a fire, earthquake, or flooded by a
busted water line.... I've seen those. I want to know what happens to a piano
dumped in the Arctic on a cold Tuesday?! Or heaved into a sauna on Maui?!
Or.... well... what have YOU seen?))

With baited breath,

Jeffrey T. Hickey  RPT
Oregon Coast Piano Services
TunerJeff @ aol.com