I'm still new to piano tuning (and learning some things). I recently was given a Ricca & Son upright empty player piano made in 1913. It was 100 cents flat when I got it, and I raised the pitch without any strings breaking. I still didn't know much abouth how to do overpull, so when I got done, the high treble was around 20-30 cents flat. A couple tunings later, it seems to be stable, but I managed to break a B27 wound string just by brushing my hand by it near the hitch pin (I was doing something in the bottom of the piano -- I forget what it was now). At 10:02 PM 12/12/00 -0500, you wrote: >When raising pitch on any piano in the past I have used my SAT in the manner >described in the SAT manual - A0 to C88 (I always do unisons as I go). When >raising pitch on an old piano where string breakage is a real concern, I >have been additionally concerned because the hi treble is usually the region >of greatest string breakage potential. Especially because when going A0 to >C88 - lets say on a piano that was originally 100 cents flat - by the time >you get to C88, it is now 130 cents (or so) flat - thus increasing the need >for overpull and risk of breaking. > >Today I raised pitch on a 1914 Lester upright. It started out at 100 cents >flat. There were several broken strings in the top half-octave. Clearly, >there was some question whether the piano was going to take A440 with all >strings intact. I hate the thought of starting in the bass (no overpull of >course - just to pitch), going through the whole piano, just to find out >that strings start breaking at G6. > >So what I did was start at C88 (figuring if they break here, I can stop >right away!), just pulling up to target pitch - no overpull (in this case I >just used a generic tuning - a 52" Baldwin tuning). I went through the >treble (C88 to G5) backwards like this, then did the bass (second most >likely area for strings to break). No broken strings. I assumed at that >point the piano would do fine at A440. I completed the tenor to pitch, did >one more pass on the treble (G5 & up) with just a 4 cent positive pitch >reset (did my FAC at this point and looked at a few Double Octave Beats), >then went through the whole piano from A0 to C88 using the SAT in >pitch-raise mode with appropriate overpulls. > >Using this sequence, I feel that I found out whether the piano would go to >A440 very early in the process. A minimal amount of pitch change occurred in >the hi treble (thus minimizing string break potential). The hi treble was >not ever lowered artificially in pitch prior to raising, and minimum >overpull was used (the last pass with overpull saw the hi-treble start out >around 5 to 10 cents flat). No part of the piano was more than about 15 >cents flat (tenor area) when overpull was used. A total of 2-1/3 passes >resulted in the piano with a cent or two (well, maybe three or four on a few >notes!) of desired pitch. One more pass for a good tuning. > >Seems to me this is a good way to approach the piano with an elevated >potential for popping strings during a pitch raise. Any thoughts? Are there >any procedures that others have found to be valuable? > >Terry Farrell >Piano Tuning & Service >Tampa, Florida >mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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