Tune it where it is

[Newton Hunt]

Concert grands are like a collection of springs (well, actually they
are) and a disturbance here will effect it there.

The real difficulty is when you have to tune to 442 one night and the
next day back to 440.  THAT is when their bitchiness shows.  They do
NOT like that so much, neither do I, but if you do the stage work you
have to endure such nonsense.  All too often I would only get 1.5
hours to make such a change.  Fortunately they were always "my" pianos
and we had come to an accommodation with each other.

Hence it is unpleasant to have another tuner tune my pianos.  I always
knew when that happens and I hated it and so did the piano.

The only way to make an impression on musicians is in their pocket
book.  If THEY have to pay for three tunings (two up one down) they
may well back off but as long as we or the house is accommodating they
will take advantage of the situation.

I was just finishing up a tuning for a concert when the artist showed
up.  "You _did_ tune it to 442 didn't you?"  "No, no one informed me
of the need."  "Well my marimba is tuned to 442!"  Pause to think. 
"If you place $100 folding money right there on the tuning pins I can
do that but it will take another hour and a half."  Pause to think. 
"Well I guess it will be OK.", she grumpily said.  A true story of a
New York City tuner.

One outfit wanted 444.  I flatly refused and so did my chairman so it
was 442.

I had a sixties S&S D that took five tunings to return to 440 in
stable hall conditions.  Her name is Grendl and she is a real bitch on
more ways than one.  Now Mack was a real gentleman even if he had a
weak tone.  He had a wonderful action but a weak tone.  Grendl on the
other hand was loud and raucous.  The both lived in the same hall.

Well, enough stories.

We do to ourselves what we will endure.

		Newton

Richard Moody wrote:
> 
> Newton writes....
> > If you are doing concert work and you need to change a nine footer
> > from 440 to 442, a change of 8 cents, the piano will have to be tuned
> > twice for a stable and correct tuning.
> 
> If I didn't know the piano, I would allow 4 hours divided up between two,
> three or four tunings over at least 24 hours. This is for, as Newton said,
> "concert work"  If it  could be done less than that it would depend on the
> piano and or how "less the concert is". But in the interests of "precision
> tuning made possible by 20th century tuning theory" I would give all
> pianos in all situations that consideration.
> 
> If musicians really care,  they will come to appreciate the stability and
> tonality  that is possible with an instrument that has been at 442 for 3
> months as opposed to the one raised only in the last 3 days or less.  The
> issue really is 440 vs 442, but until that is decided, the solution seems
> to be having some pianos at 442 and the rest of pianos at 440; not using
> some for both.  If "they" really care, they would realized that taking a
> piano designed at 440 and raising it to 442  is a compromise, not an
> "improvement". ---ric
> 
>