[pianotech] PR Fight!

[John Formsma]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 1:56 AM, Blaine Hebert <brhebert at verizon.net> wrote:

>  Subject: Pitch Raise Fight!
>
> Wim talked me into adding my $0.02:
>

Careful!  Your two cents will add extra tension to the whole [Pianotech]
structure, making it less stable. Then we'll have to start this whole
lonnnnnnggg process over again.  <G>



>
> If you are changing the pitch *at all*, anywhere on the scale on your last
> fine tuning pass then your tuning *will not be stable*.  "You cannot tune
> and out of tune piano" (I wish I could remember who first said that).
>


While perhaps theoretically true, I don't think this is the case in reality.
 If you're not changing the pitch at all, it's already in tune, and you're
wasting your time.  Every tuning changes the pitch somewhat.  The trick is
to have enough experience to know in advance how a piano will react to the
amount of pitch change. For instance, if I tune a piano that is 8 cents
flat, and do it in one pass, it will stay where I leave it ... until weather
changes it.  Another way of saying it, if I have verified by firm blows that
the pitch doesn't move, then I declare the piano stable.  (What other way
have we of proving stability?)

Anyway, I skimmed and/or read every post on the subject.  My thought is that
many of us are dealing with instability caused by the piano's environment.
 In my world (the Southeast), temperature and RH will change enough in 3-4
weeks time to significantly affect a tuning. It's rather impossible to judge
whether instability comes from the pitch raise or the environment.  My best
guess is that it comes from the environment (at least in my area), and that
any piano requiring a large pitch raise will probably need another tuning in
a month or so. Maybe it changes more because of the pitch raise when the
weather hit it -- I just don't know for sure.

Perhaps tension increases set up some kind of reaction that is slow to
manifest, but I tend to think not. When we're dealing with instruments whose
pitch can change quite a bit during the tuning because temperature changes,
it's hard to quantify the exact causes of pitch change.




> If you have a fairly even tuning before the last pass then you can rely on
> your tuning to hold for 6 months to a year (I am in Southern California
> where tunings can hold well for TWO years; I just did one).  I  only seen a
> slight difference between my major pitch raise's stability and a careful
> tuning a year later.
>


I envy your environment, although changing seasons helps my business. <G>



> If I needed to retune a piano after two weeks I would do it free of charge.
>


Two weeks down here can completely change a piano.  Well, unisons are still
basically good within that time, but if you tune a piano and weather changes
the next week, sections of the piano will change ... drastically.

-- 
JF
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