Hi Clyde, I make a point of writing the temperature and humidity on the bill, when I tune a piano. That way I know why the pitch is where it is the next time I tune. I also indicate to the customer that the pitch will change with humidity, so they expect to see a change if the humidity has changed. The smaller ones have shown a more drastic change, in pitch. I use the electronic unit put out by Dampp-Chaser, although Radio Shack carries a similar unit. Regards, John M. Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada Clyde Hollinger wrote: > Friends, > > In general I've not been in favor of "floating the pitch" for pianos, > but a recent event has helped me see the light. During the last week > I've been finding that a number of the pianos I tuned a year ago are > considerably flat. My records indicate that a year ago I arrived to > find the same pianos very sharp. Here's a worst case type of scenario > -- 12/17/97, first call, tune to A440; 6/26/98, piano was 37c sharp; > 6/3/99, piano was 14c flat. And these are at times when the humidity is > generally pretty moderate here in PA. > > Now I'm not good at remembering weather patterns, but one of my clients > helped me when I suggested maybe we had a long rainy spell about this > time last year. "Oh, yes," she responded, "I keep a garden book, and > last year this time we had a week of rainy weather." > > So now I am inclined, if I find a piano that has been regularly serviced > wildly off pitch (assuming good structural integrity), not to take pains > to do the pitch corrections, up then down, back and forth, etc. > Obviously, tuning for a concert is a different story. > > By the way, am I correct that in general smaller pianos will change more > drastically with humidity fluctuations than larger ones? > > Regards, > Clyde Hollinger
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