strings cannot be tuned!

[Hrschm@aol.com]

       I service a Howard Grand piano. The owner told me when I started
tuning for him that there were three notes in  the upper treble that would
not stay in tune . He mentioned that there had been a string or two replaced
on those notes so I thought it must be going out of tune before the rest of
the piano because of the new strings streaching . However, I had a terible
time tuning these notes . they are the G6 , G#6 , and A6 . The G and G# are
the two notes to the Left of the highest plate strut and the A
is to the Right of the strut . Each time I would tune these notes a good test
blow would knock them out again. Even trying to anticipates how much the test
blow would drop the
pitch of the note did not help. After about 15 minutes on these three notes I
was somehow able to stabalize them and the owner said they stayed in tune
longer than usual. On my next visit it was even worse . I must have spent 20
minutes trying to tune these notes and when they were stabalized the unisons
did not match well.

       The bridge looks fine and the coils on the tuning pin looks good. I
suspect because the notes are all beside each other and they are on either
side of a plate strut that the problem is not in the strings but in the
structure of the piano in this area . only these notes are a problem . Does
anyone have any ideas as to what might be going on here
I would greatly appreciate any input anyone might have


                               Russell Schmidt R.P.T.

                                Lexington , KY