[CAUT] Rehearsal room climate swings

[Ron Nossaman]

> The charts you attached show relative humidity swings that are absolutely
> wild.  I don't think anything you can put in, on, or under the piano will
> solve the problem under those conditions, expecially if there is a large
> volume of air flow.  The relative humidity swing from winter to summer in
> the second chart is terrible, and the temperature is not all that stable
> either.  It looks to me like there is no attempt to control relative
> humidity in that system.  The chart says it's bone dry in winter and soggy
> in summer.  There's no way to keep a piano stable under those conditions.
> I have seen some bad ones, but this one is the worst.
> 
> Sincerely, Jim Ellis

John's figures for humidity swing ranges are very close to 
what we get here in Kansas, only about 15% lower. Here, we get 
from 25% - 70%, with about the same seasonal timing. The 
school pianos all get tuned a couple of weeks before the 
weather changes and the RH% drops in the fall, and again just 
before it goes up in the spring. Guaranteed 20+ cents pitch 
change per season, per piano, twice a year with no provision 
for monetary compensation for pitch adjustments. Getting a 
piano within  couple of cents of being on pitch in any given 
scale section in one pass thrills them no end, since no one 
they have had before has been able to come close, and the 
pianos are terribly out of tune most of the time anyway 
because of the timing of the tunings with the seasonal changes.
Ron N