Dennis wrote: >Right. That was my point and I agree. Unfortunately, there is limited call >for anything other than 440 at an undergraduate school, as others have pointed >out. On the other hand, everyone knew what we were getting into before it >was purchased. If it is not compatible for certain uses- so be it. It is >what it is. Yes and no. An historical builder would have shipped pianos from say Vienna to all sorts of places with all sorts of pitch levels, possibly as high as 450 being not unusual. The framing/structure was generally not an issue, as most designs were capable of staying together at any of the typical pitches without changing to thinner wires. The issue was scaling and wire. A short-scaled piano like a Streicher would have had no trouble tuning to a high pitch without changing the scaling. [there is an amusing serires of letters from a disgruntled customer who claimed that Streicher had screwed up with resulting breaking strings when she tuned it to a high local pitch]. Other piano designs may have had to reduce the string lengths to maintain a safe stress margin on the wire, i.e. shipping a specially modified design to specific locales. Modern builders. Well that is another story. Framing may be an issue - Rod's pianos do have a bit of a reputation for coming apart at the seams, so he's probably a little worried from that aspect. As for strings he ought to be able to tell you definitively whether strings will break at the higher pitch [no grey area, just a yes or no]. Simple calculation should give that answer based on the type of wire he used and his scaling. If the fortepiano was intended for use at the music school primarily at 440, why wasn't it ordered to be tuned at 440? A modern builder ought to be able to provide any required modifications to make it work. But, to reiterate...historical fortepianos were sold to be used at many different pitches, some higher than 440. Stephen Stephen Birkett Fortepianos Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos 464 Winchester Drive Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2T 1K5 tel: 519-885-2228 mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
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