Pitch Anticipation

[Ron Nossaman]

At 08:36 AM 11/26/98 EST, you wrote:
>Jon writes:
>>Even now with the school I service I will tune them (hang on to your hats)
>>as much as six beats sharp (September).
>
> Frantically looking for my hat..........
>Greetings, 
>    This is a quarter-step off pitch, ( assuming 440 is still normal).  I will
>make the assumption that at the driest part of the year, the piano will be and
>equivalent amount flat.  Which gives us a piano that is moving over a range of
>50 cents.  There is small chance an instrument will stay in reasonable tune or
>condition with this much movement.   
>    A ETD will get it close enough for school use in about 90 minutes, but
>there sure can't be a whole lot of stability in there. 
>REgards,
>Ed Foote
>     

In **EVERY** Elementary, Middle School, High School, and College I tune,
twenty+ cents to pitch (up or down) in one pass at 40 minutes - an hour,
twice a year, is the norm. I don't intentionally float pitch more than a
beat, but I don't see where it would realistically hurt anything, and would
be easier on the piano than what I'm doing. The horn players may object if
you leave the pitch beyond what their tuning slide will accommodate, but
it's highly unlikely that anyone will even notice. 

As to spending 90 minutes on a school tuning, there's no way I will spend
over half again as much time on a school tuning for the same pay. It's
pointless even if I charged double because the climate control in these
places, and the timing of the tunings relative to the seasonal changes,
makes it impossible to keep the pianos even superficially "in tune" for more
than a week or so at a time. I feel that the only viable survival strategy
is your best shot, once over, and move on. And no, I don't recommend
Dampp-Chasers for school systems. They won't maintain them themselves, and
I'm not looking for a perpetual hand holding position in a school system.
Where I can't change the reality, I have to survive the status quo.

Go Jon, do what you have to do.

 Ron