Greetings and a question

[Greg Casper]

Greeting all. I am new to this group, having heard about it recently from
Carl Meyer at a PTG meeting here in California. I hope to watch, learn and
listen alot.

Now a question. I have a friend who has a 1910 Pease baby grand, 5'2". She
says she heard a "popping" sound one day, and since then her piano is
untuneable. She had a tuner in (don't know if it was a tech or RPT or not),
and he told her it would cost her several thousand dollars JUST TO DIAGNOSE
THE PROBLEM! So, she's giving me the piano to get it out of her home. I
checked the plate and soundboard and can find no sign of cracking or any
defect. Didn't get to check the crown. In playing up the keys, things seemed
reasonable until I got to the bass break, which is at C2 on this piano. The
B was close to pitch, but the C was probably a FOURTH sharp! Just as a quick
test (I was severely time constrained), I dropped the pitch on that string
down to octave with the higher C, and within a few minutes it had already
sharped by what I would guess to be at least 50 cents!

Any idea what could cause such behavior?

Thanks.

Greg Casper