Pitch raising

[Stephen Airy]

I was just thinking -- I play the piano, as well as wanting to learn tuning 
(just tuned my mom's YC Pramberger PG-150 a couple weeks ago).  If I had my 
own piano that was unable to come up to pitch, I would probably tune it 
flat, in intervals of 100c, so I could play along with other instruments 
even if I had to transpose.

Another thing -- I sometimes play my Ricca & Son piano (the one with the 
broken B27 string and on which I did a 100c pitch raise) along with 
recordings that are 50c flat.  What's your suggestions?  Leave the piano 
where it is (440, most recordings are on pitch), tune it 50c flat, or 
compromise and tune it 25c flat?


At 11:19 AM 12/16/00 -0600, you wrote:
> > What would have happened if she had permitted me
> >to raise it right away?  Broken strings all over the place, I reckon.
>
>Nope. What would have happened is this. When strings started breaking, you
>would have had the good sense to back it down and tune it at a lower pitch.
>Approaching it the way you did was quite reasonable under the
>circumstances, since you weren't given other options by the customer or the
>condition of the piano. Under better circumstances, defined as the desire
>to get the piano to standard pitch (whatever the heck that happens to be
>this week), with the customer willing to pay for it, and a piano that
>doesn't have the remains of long extinct insect species fossilized in it's
>internal dust layers, it makes more sense to just pull it up and go. Like
>most things, there is the need for occasional rational thought here, rather
>than a hard and fast RULE.
>
>
>
> >     I don't see this as an ethical question.
>
>Me either. It's a technical concern, complicated by a political one.
>
>
> > I'm getting paid for what I do, we're both happy,
> >and the
> >piano is closer to pitch than it's been in decades.
>
>The only thing I might quibble with here is whether 50 cents flat is really
>better than 100 cents flat. In this case, since no pitch raise was charged,
>it's not an issue. When I can't get a piano to 440 with the pitch raise and
>have to fall back, I don't charge them for the attempt, though I have
>declined to make the attempt when I don't think the piano will take it. I
>have no idea what other tuners do about this. When it does work, I charge a
>set fee for the pitch raise, regardless of amplitude.
>
>
>Ron N


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