Tuning Gone Bad: The Outcome

[Matt Wynne]

Hi Terry:

I'm sure it's obvious but have you checked the plate screws?  Once I had a 
piano that kept going out of tune, severely, before I finished tuning and, 
as it turned out, the plate screws all were loose by a 1/4 to 1/2 a 
turn.  Either that or the block is badly fitted.  Also, all bets are off 
with pianos in churches.

-Matt


At 10:57 PM 5/25/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Jimminy Gadzookas, that thar' pie-anner's got some problems.
>
>I tuned this 1963 K&C 40" spinet three weeks ago. It was at pitch (I made 
>one quick pitch raise pass in the high treble) and I tuned it to A440. The 
>Pastor calls me a week ago and says the pianist said the piano has gone 
>out of tune in the middle area. I went out there today.
>
>Bass: 2 cents flat. Tenor: most of it 25 cents flat - tapering to A440 
>pitch at the break. Right back to 20 cents flat in the whole upper treble 
>part. Searched all over piano for cracked plate, lost backpost, etc. 
>Everything seems OK. Then I played 20 questions with Mr. Pastor Sir.
>
>Turns out, the piano was moved the day before I tuned it (3 weeks ago) 
>from the old church building to the new church building. The new church 
>has three major AC units. Only one was going today, and it was nice an 
>cool in there (90 outside). I did not have a hygrometer to measure in the 
>old and new church, but I'm guessing that the old church is very high 
>humidity, and the new church is very low humidity. That may be the primary 
>cause of the plain wire sections of the piano to drop 20 cents.
>
>But the piano was wierd. Bad wierd. I did a normal pitch raise, but the 
>center ended up 5 to 8 cents flat. I did a tuning pass, with pulling the 
>middle part up an extra cent or so to make all work out nice. The top half 
>of the middle section ended up 4 to 5 cents sharp. So I retuned that part 
>back down to pitch. Then the lower half of the middle section ended up 8 
>cents sharp! What's going on here!?!?!
>
>Then I decided two things: 1) That thar' pie-anner's got some problems; 
>and 2) I had better go the the store and get a bottle of wine and some 
>chicken to grill. So I did. Problem solved.
>
>Sumthin's screwy in St. Loui! I suppose I'll find out more about it next 
>time they call. Oh well, interesting experience. I had never seen a piano 
>change like that because of a presumed humidity change. Or maybe the plate 
>is made of rubber.
>
>Well, that's all I know.
>
>Back to leading keys.
>
>Terry Farrell
>