Let's Get This Settled was How to explain a pitchadjustment..and!

David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net
Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:26:39 -0800


Not likely with one pitch raise.  But if you are asking whether in one
sitting you could get the piano to pitch and stable enough for a concert or
recording session the answer is yes.  

The original question didn't have to do with how many passes might be
required to get the piano stable.  It was to what degree the piano would
continue to settle.  I suppose if the piano is so far off that when you pull
the piano to pitch that you change the position of the bends in the wire
around the contact points and the strings, therefore, need to straighten out
again, you might have some instability.  But I have pulled pianos up from 65
cents or more (probably getting the old bends back into position), done a
fine tuning and had the piano be very stable.  It may have taken me two or
even three passes to get the piano close enough to where I could fine tune
it but other than that it didn't seem to matter how far off it was.  The
explanation might be that the reaction to the change in string tension
happens mostly in the plate which reacts instantly to that change (witness
what happens to the pitches of the surrounding notes when a single string
breaks).  Requiring additional time to stabilize suggests that the plate
would continue to creep after the initial move.  It just doesn't seem to do
that.   

David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of pianolover 88
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 10:05 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: RE: Let's Get This Settled was How to explain a
pitchadjustment..and!

Do you think that if a concert D that had to be tuned for a major recital, 
recording, etc., that was, say 65C flat would be perfectly stable after a 
single pitch raise and one fine tuning?

Terry Peterson



----Original Message Follows----
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@comcast.net>
Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
To: "'Pianotech'" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: RE: Let's Get This Settled was How to explain a 
pitchadjustment..and!
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 20:56:41 -0800

My experience says it doesn't matter.  Once you correct the pitch and do a
fine tuning, all other things remaining constant, the piano will stay in
tune.  The piano doesn't really settle.  Moving the piano cross country may
challenge the piano in terms of EMC but nothing more.  An upright can go out
of tune with a move across the room because the four point weight bearing
can tweak the stresses in the case a bit if the floor is not exactly level.
The three point weight bearing of a grand makes it immune to such problems.

David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Alan Barnard
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 8:25 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Let's Get This Settled was How to explain a pitch adjustment..and!

Terry's post begs the question (and please understand I ain't challingin'
nobody on nuttin' ... I'm just seeking information and opinions and
science, here) ...

Do a piano really need time to "settle" after ..

1. Big pitch change?
2. Small pitch change?
3. Moving it across country? (other than environmental acclimation)
4  Moving it across the room?

I have been under the impression--and it may be altogether wacky--that
every change that is going to occur in the piano occurs immediatly upon
cranking the pin. I thought someone (Dr. Sanderson, perhaps) tested this
and proved it.

So an adjunct question: Let's say we find a piano 15 cents flat. We pitch
correct and fine tune and walk out the door with a follow-up appointment
set for three months. When that day arrives, for those who have set such
appointments, is the piano any flatter or more sour than it would have been
if we found it A440 but still came back in three months?

Same question, only now the piano was originally 35 cents flat. 60 cents?
120 cents?

Certainly I've restrung pianos and found them pretty sick in a couple of
months but have always attributed that to new wire stretch, not tension
settling.

Helmet on, raincoat on, rubber duckie in hand, I await your missives, if
not missiles ...

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


 > [Original Message]
 > From: pianolover 88 <pianolover88@hotmail.com>
 > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
 > Date: 12/20/2005 6:24:24 PM
 > Subject: Re: How to explain a pitch adjustment..and!
 >
 > Depending on the amount of PR, ususally more than 12C, I always schedule
a
 > "follow-up" tuning in 1-3 months, explaining that after restoring all
that
 > loststring tension, the piano now must "settle" and adjust to that added
 > tension, and it some shifting of will occur. So the follow-up is crucial
in
 > building long term stabilty. And that tuning will leave the piano much
more
 > stable because tuning pin movement will be much smaller than during the
 > initial PR and tuning. Again, never a problem. Yes, it does help to have
a
 > high confidence level and be able to effectively communicate and impart
 > information to your client in a clearand concice manner. I am a salesman
as
 > well as a technician; that has made the difference between just getting
by
 > to making a six figures.
 >
 > Terry Peterson


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