Overpulling a Steinway

Don pianotuna@yahoo.com
Wed, 30 Mar 2005 21:12:31 -0800 (PST)


Hi Julia,

The first reason to document humidity at the time of
tuning is that when you get a "call back" you can
remeasure the humidity. If it has changed 5% or more,
then the longevity of the tuning is extremely suspect,
and you are not the cause of the instability. I have
repeatedly documented that a 5% change will cause the
pitch at A4 to drift about 4 cents (once the piano
stabilizes at the new RH). These changes approximately
double for each octave down A4 until you reach the
bass break and the first wound string below the strut.

The second reason is to help the client understand
that humidity control for their piano is a desireable
goal. If the humidity is not kept above 30% serious
wood failure may happen. Above 60% metal may rust
amazingly rapidly.

The third reason is that *if* your pleas to the client
to control humidity fall on deaf ears you can make an
informed "guess" as to how much of the pitch change is
due to humidity--which will allow you to offer the
client slightly better service by "floating the
pitch".

The fourth reason is that some day you wish to drop
those "floaters" from your database, because it is
never very satisfying professionally to deal with
pianos that are not cared for properly.

I could give you many other reasons, but I think you
will have the idea by now.



Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
3004 Grant Rd, Regina, SK, S4S 5G7
Tuner for the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts

http://us.geocities.com/drpt1948/


		
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