stability question

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Kris

Personally I dont find anything odd with your situation at all. Big open halls
as in Churches have notoriously unstable climatic conditions. Combine that with
a piano of the type you mention, assume a good deal of use, and a few years of
wear and tear and it would actually suprise me that the instrument would not
need tuning after a couple months.

There are a few things you can do to help the problem tho. One is to make sure
the action is in good shape, especially that the hammers are well filed and
make exact contact with all strings of all unisons. Worn to sh...t hammers that
hit one string of a unison hard while hiting the other weakly can help a bad
situation become much worse. Dont dope the pins unless they are below torque
rateings. Personally I dont like pin doping, but there are many who swear by
it. Marginally loose pins can definatly cause the piano to go quickly out of
tune. If the block is solid, replacing pins can work wonders. The heating vent
can also definately be a big problem, tho that depends on how extreme the air
coming out of it is. If you have a humid climate, and it blows hot dry air
right out under the piano, well... hey the thing is going to go out of tune in
a hurry, and that is probably the least of your problems. grin.

The best way to save your church money is to identify the main problem areas,
get them to go along with correcting them (even if that means an action
overhaul, pin replacement job etc) and get it fixed. The instrument will
probably live a lot longer as well.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway


> On Thu, 19 Aug 1999, K Anderson wrote:
>
> > Hi, List,
> > I am looking for some input on a small problem;  if it's addressed in the
> > archives I apologize for boring you - I don't have Internet.  The problem
> > concerns a Story & Clark #413683, one of the ones "Built for churches";
> > it is a church's sanctuary piano & their main worship instrument.  It
> > just will not stay in tune longer than about 6 weeks.  After two months
> > it's distinctly out of tune and after 2  1/2 months they call for another
> > tuning. I don't mind tuning a piano often, but I feel badly for the
> > church music budget.
> >       There's a sticker just under the lid where the previous tunuer
> > kept records; they shopw the piano was usually tuned at least three times
> > a year, and those were not touch-ups; some hefty cent's deviations are
> > recorded.
> >       Its last few tunings were in December, Feb. 16,  and June 1st.
> > In February I installed a Hyrdo-Dry bar, hoping that would at least help
> > to lengthen time between tunings a little. Didn't help much - maybe added
> > two weeks.  I'd prefer a Damp-Chaser unit but they can be spendy & I'm
> > trying to help the church save a little, so I tried the Hydro-Dry first
> > just to see.
> >       The piano is not in ther best location: treble end  is mere
> > inches from a heating vent (forced air heat),  and a door to the outdoors
> > about 6 feet nehind the piano.  Not a main door, but a door anyway.  The
> > building has no air conditioning.I have suggested that it be moved, if
> > possible, to the other end of the stage, where there is no heat vent and
> > no exterior door.
> >       I see the piano again on Saturday;  am thinking about doping the
> > block.  Any input? Thanks in advance -
> >  Kris Anderson, RPT
> > Hibbing , MN
> >
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