Hey Wim - I think you and I experience similar evnironmental conditions. I find that modern air-conditioned homes in Florida provide a very stable environment for a piano - most folks don't hit the heat much in the winter and the AC running most of the time in the summer keeps the RH down - pretty darn stable environment. It makes me happy. :-) Terry Farrell On Aug 25, 2009, at 7:44 PM, wimblees at aol.com wrote: > I would like to chime in with my view on this. I agree with Terry's > (and Paul's) assessments, but here are a couple of additional > thoughts on the matter which might clear up some misconceptions. > > First is the definition of the term "one pass". To me this means > going from A0 to C88 one time, whether it's starting from A44 with a > fork and setting an aural temperament, or tuning all the notes with > an ETD, regardless of where you start. Even when tuning a piano > that's already at pitch, the piano should get at least 2 passes, and > then some. In other words, it's not enough to just tune the piano > once, and let it go at that. A second pass is needed just to assure > that all the notes are where they are supposed to be. And then a > third or forth pass might be needed to tweak a few more notes. > > Second is the stability of a piano after a "pitch raise". Before we > can say that a piano will not be stable after a pitch raise, we need > to recognize that most pianos are not stable, especially in certain > parts of the country. Having lived in the Midwest, I know that it's > not uncommon to have the heat on at night and the AC running at full > blast that same afternoon, and where summer temperatures can be over > 100, with humidity to match, and to have sub-zero temperatures in > the winter. In other words, for a piano to go sour after a pitch > raise is not necessarily caused by the pitch raise. That piano was > destined to go out of tune, no matter what kind of tuning was done. > > The pitch raises most of us are familiar with are pianos that > haven't been tuned for many years, often longer than customers even > admit. To argue that a piano in a concert setting will not stay in > tune after a pitch raise is almost a redundant statement, primarily > because pianos in concert setting don't go untuned for more than a > month at most. When Bill asked the question, he was most likely > referring to pianos that are 20 or more cents flat, not because of a > sudden change in temperature, but because of years of neglect. > > Which brings me to my philosophy about pitch raise and fine tuning. > Regardless of how flat a piano is, on the first pass the piano is > tuned 25% higher than it was low. This brings the piano back to > "even keel". In this case, that first pass is as described above. > This is immediately followed by a "regular" tuning, which requires > two, three or even four passes, all in one sitting. I have found > that with this tuning the piano will be "stable", as described above. > > I can say with all honesty that this happens, because unlike the > weather conditions in the Midwest, we have a very stable climate in > Hawaii. Day time temperatures are between 80 and 90 degrees, year > around. Night time temperatures are between 65 and 75, year around. > The humidity is always between 65% and 80%. Under these conditions I > have done a 75 cent pitch raise and tuning, and came back a year > later with that piano at pitch, and no more out of tune than a piano > that was tuned at pitch the year before. > > In conclusion, when a piano has been through a pitch raise and a > tuning in one sitting, yes it will go out of tune, but not because > it just went through a pitch raise. It will go out of tune because > that piano is in an unstable environment, and because of design, > will probably never be "stable". > > > Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT > Piano Tuner/Technician > Mililani, Oahu, HI > 808-349-2943 > Author of: > The Business of Piano Tuning > available from Potter Press > www.pianotuning.com > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC