Hi Paul, We have the same situation with my college and similar piano makes. The HVAC systems are virtually worthless as far as I'm concerned in helping any tuning situation. Our humidity ranges from 70% to 18 %. Terrible extremes. We have systems in all of our concert D's and all of our Steinway B's. We have none in our other pianos because they are recycled from year to year via piano sales through the dealer that provides them to us. We do not have under covers on any them. In my opinion, anything that dampens the tone even a little bit during a concert is not a good thing for the musician. It certainly will not hurt the piano to remove it during the performance for that period of time. We do have piano covers however. The pianos are kept closed when the piano is not in use and often kept closed up until the time of the performance. We keep the Dampp Chasers plugged in all the way up until the performance begins too. Some musicians prefer the plug to be hidden so it may be unplugged for the hour or 2 that they are performing but, most often, we run an extension cord hidden under one of those rubber things that go over top of a plug cord so people won't trip on it leaving it plugged in during most performances. It keeps the tuning and pitch very stable throughout the school year. Yes, the pitch fluctuates somewhat throughout the school year. That is impossible to stop completely but it doesn't fluctuate nearly as badly as it would had it not had a system installed at all. So long as someone is willing to ALWAYS fill them when the lights are blinking, you've got it made. I would leave it up to you to replace the wicks on them as necessary. From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul Milesi Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 3:06 AM To: PTG Pianotech List Subject: [pianotech] Climate Systems, String Covers, and Effects on Tuning Stability & Tone Greetings. I am the new staff technician for the Howard University Department of Music in Washington, DC. I am working hard to overcome or at least slow the deleterious effects of an HVAC system that is pumping air of all extremes into recital halls, classrooms, practice rooms, and teaching studios -- all in combination with windows that open and close. Since the building opened in 1961, significant damage (mostly pinblock and soundboard damage from excessive dryness, but also string rust/corrosion from our humid summers here in DC) has been done to what used to be some very beautiful pianos, including several Baldwin Ls and Rs and 4 or 5 Steinways. For starters, I have obtained funds for 10 Life Saver systems, to be distributed among the recital hall, piano teaching studios, and practice rooms. I have installed a couple already, and thought it would also be a good idea to combine the systems with string covers to maximize tuning stability. I purchased several yards of string cover felt from Schaff, and placed a cover on a Yamaha C5 in the recital hall. I currently have no plans to install undercovers. Can a string cover be left on the piano during recitals? The first person to play with it on last week thought it was damping the tone. I'm sure it is to some extent, but was thinking it's tonal effects are nominal, and are far outweighed by gains in tuning stability and rust prevention. What are your thoughts on this? Is the sensation of damped tone anything more than psychological? If any of you use string covers, do you leave them on in performance situations? Are the Edwards covers any different in terms of basic properties from the Schaff felt? Does anyone use them in practice rooms, classrooms, or teaching studios? Do you meet with any resistance from faculty or students? Do you experience significant benefits for the trouble? Is there any advantage to a string cover on a piano in a teaching studio that has the lid closed all the time (I'm thinking yes, there is, because it will cover the pinblock area)? Also, for any who have Life Saver Systems, who has the responsibility for maintaining them (i.e., filling humidifier)? Faculty at Howard seem willing to pitch in, since they are already seeing significant benefits from a little more attention to their pianos, but I'm wondering about the long term - would it be better for me to simply look in on 10-15 systems every couple of weeks? I will sincerely appreciate all suggestions and feedback on these topics, as well as pointers to any online information, books, etc. I really want to turn things around at this school - is that possible without a new building? Sincerely, Paul -- Paul Milesi Registered Piano Technician (RPT) Piano Technicians Guild (202) 667-3136 (202) 246-3136 Cell E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com Website: http://www.pmpiano.com Address: 3000 7th Street NE, Apt. 204 Washington, DC 20017-1402 _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 090916-0, 09/16/2009 Tested on: 9/17/2009 8:07:40 AM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2009 ALWIL Software. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090917/313e8965/attachment.htm>
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