Tune it where it is

[John Lillico, RPT]

Frank Cahill,

You say, "OK, John. But a pitch raise of 50-100 cents adds time to my tuning.  If it's only 10-15 cents, no big deal...it can be done in one pass. But some pianos are way off and require 2-4 passes of fractions thereof."

A pitch change will recover about 1/3rd of the distance changed. If it is 50 cents flat, raise plain strings to 25 cents sharp. Rough in, THEN raise bass. All will end up real close to pitch for tuning. Increment raising is a real waste of time. The time difference between a 20 cent and a 100 cent change should be no more than 15 minutes. 

If necessary, call ahead to warn your next client that you'll be a half hour late or, skip lunch. Anything over 10 cents should be quickly corrected for stability (in about 10 minutes), then tuned rather than one prolonged pass.

As far as a dollar a cent goes, it's much better in U.S. currency.

John Lillico, RPT,
Oakville, Ontario, Canada