Has anyone heard of an "a436" Piano

[David Nereson]

newdaymoore@bellsouth.net wrote:

>  <<. . . . .  It was around the time of WW2 that the 440 became 
> universally accepted. Before that 435 was most common but there was 
> other pitches that were accepted as well.  
> www.uk-piano.org/history/pitch.html 
> <http://www.uk-piano.org/history/pitch.html>   Check out this website.>>


On my Deagan tuning fork (440 Hz) is stamped "Adopted by U.S. Gov't. 
1920" and "Official pitch of A.F. of M. 1917 (American Federation of 
Musicians).  If you listen to very old recordings, especially of 
non-"classical" stuff, such as folk, blues, and jazz, pitch can be all 
over the place.  But in the recording and orchestral world, I think A 
440 was adopted in major studios considerably earlier than World War 
II.  Most of the old records of big bands I have that were recorded in 
the 1930's (and later) are at A 440, or pretty close.  Of course, they 
could speed up or slow down these recordings to put them at some desired 
pitch (or tempo) -- I'm not sure how much they tamper with stuff.  A 
440  may not have been universal then, but it seems to have been fairly 
widely accepted.  And even today, is it 100% universal when we have some 
orchestras who insist on A 442?
--David Nereson, RPT