I'd geuss the fireplace has a great deal to do with the problem. It can quickly suck the moisture out of the air ,driving an already low humidity level even lower. Gary McCormick ----- Original Message ----- From: <Tvak@AOL.COM> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 2:03 PM Subject: Kawai piano needs orthodonture > Last year, I helped some good friends of mine find a piano. After a couple > of months looking, I found a Kawai console which they purchased last January > (2001). This piano dates back to the late 70s with one owner, a professor > and musician; the instrument was in very good condition with little hammer > wear. > I tuned it for them and did a full regulation of the piano, including > setting key height and key dip. Now, just 13 months later, the keys are not > level any longer. And I'm not being picky here, this keyboard looks like it > needs orthodonture. I would expect a leveled keyboard to last for years > before it needed leveling again. > What would cause this? > I can guarantee there are no children banging on the keys, as the parents > are professional musicians and I am confident that this would never take > place in their home. The humidity level in their home is at 21%, which > seems very low to me, but then, I leveled the keys last January when the > humidity was probably close to the same. > This piano also goes out of tune amazingly fast in spite of the pins > being tight in the block. I can see why it would be out of tune from my > last tuning in August, now that the humidity in the home is so low, but I > tuned it one week ago and today there were 3 or 4 unisons which had drifted > dramatically. This is not a one time event, either; I am always > disappointed when I visit them to find how poorly the piano has held its > tune. > The piano itself seems fine to me. The work I did on it is the same work > I've done on other pianos. I have mentioned to them that the low level of > humidity was not good for the piano and could possibly be causing these > problems and I got the fish-eye. I'm afraid they think that there's either > something wrong with the piano, or me, and they're leaning towards me on that > issue. > Could the low humidity be at the bottom of all of this? The piano is > NOT near a heat vent, it's even sitting on an inner wall. There is a fire > place across the room about 10 feet away. They use it frequently. > What's going on here? > > Any thoughts are appreciated. > > Thanks, > Tom Sivak
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