I routinely pull them up to A440 and tune in one sitting from wherever they are - I've done quite a few that were at least 300 cents flat. No trouble at all. At most, I might leave one piano a year below standard pitch. It will be because the strings started breaking and there was reason to think they would continue, or because it is a little old lady on a fixed income that doesn't sing for church, is not taking lessons, and/or does not organize any jam sessions in her home. One time I ran into a piano that was known to not have been tuned for more than 100 years. It was about five semi-tones flat. I recall that we left that one one or two semi-tones flat. Get the piano up to pitch and let it start to stabilize. When you do it a little bit at a time, the piano will take forever to achieve any stability. Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey@sbcglobal.net> To: <dporritt@mail.smu.edu>; <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 8:04 PM Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics. > Hey, I need some input from tuners that HAVEN;'T broke a plate or Julia is going to really be freaked...;-] > > David I. > > Bye the way "the sound" was the Bondo breaking... > > > > > ----- Original message ----------------------------------------> > From: "David M. Porritt" <dporritt@mail.smu.edu> > To: <rnossaman@cox.net>, <pianotech@ptg.org> > Received: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 14:07:29 -0600 > Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics. > > >"The Sound" is one you don't forget. > > >The funniest one I heard about was a small grand piano that a local (no longer in > >business) dealer bought cheap. It had a break in one of the long struts. He cleaned it > >up, refinished the plate including bondoing the broken spot. He sold it to a local rock > >band for use in a restaurant. It was 200-cents flat and needed to be at 440. A friend of > >mine went to the restaurant to tune it not knowing about the broken plate with the > >bondo repair. The piano survived the pitch raise and tuning but just as he was packing > >up his tools.......... He wasn't sure he'd ever be the same! > > >dave > > > >__________________________________________ > >David M. Porritt, RPT > >Meadows School of the Arts > >Southern Methodist University > >Dallas, TX 75275 > >dporritt@mail.smu.edu > > > >----- Original message ----------------------------------------> > >From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman@cox.net> > >To: <dporritt@mail.smu.edu>, Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org> > >Received: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 13:50:30 -0600 > >Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics. > > > >>>Yes, once. It was a Kohler & Campbell console. The plate was obviously > >>>put in the frame crooked and under tremendous tension. You can make a > >>>plate fit the frame with a strong enough power tool. It was clearly > >>>defective. You do remember those, however! > >>> > >>>dave > > > >>I do (shudder) remember those. Haven't seen one in forever. I wonder why. > >>Maybe the plates eventually broke in all of them??? > > >>I've seen a few broken plates, and declined to do the pitch raise and > >>tunings requested without repairs, but I haven't yet had one break while I > >>was working on it. Kent Swafford, as I recall, heard THE NOISE of a plate > >>suicide firsthand a half dozen years back, through no fault of his own. He > >>even posted the story to the list. > > >>Ron N > > > >_______________________________________________ > >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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