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

[pianolover 88]

<<In my experience, the bigger the pitch raise, the more erratic the tuning 
will be three months later.>>

Thank you.

Terry Peterson



----Original Message Follows----
From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman@cox.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: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:18:06 -0600


>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?

In my experience, the bigger the pitch raise, the more erratic the tuning 
will be three months later. There's no way to tell, doing that pitch raise, 
to what degree the string is immediately rendering through the bridge, so 
the unequal segment tensions will settle in and more nearly equalize over 
time, leaving the tuning rougher than if it had been done on a piano already 
at pitch.

Incidentally, in this part of the world, school system pianos get knocked 
down in the Fall, just before it gets cold, and pulled up in late Winter, 
just before it gets warm. It's typically a 15-20 cent pitch adjustment each 
way (for which no one will pay, beyond the base tuning cost, which they 
expect to be discounted), and the follow up tuning will be at the next 
scheduled 15-20 cent pitch adjustment. This is year after year after year. 
Too often, the same applies in homes. They don't expect a discount, but they 
aren't about to pay for pitch adjustments twice a year, or do follow up 
tunings in between.


>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.

Beyond initially getting the piano to pitch and minimally stable in the 
shop, I don't think strings really stretch that much after a week or two (if 
that).
Ron N
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