[CAUT] Old Pianos and Pitch change

[Daniel Gurnee]

Ric,

I have had the same experience with two Ds when taken to 442, glassy  
and back to 440, full and round.  Early Chickerings and and others  
when dropped to 435 became less glassy.

Daniel Gurnee, HSU Retired


On Oct 31, 2007, at 12:53 PM, Richard Brekne wrote:

> Just had a real interesting experience with an older Steinway C  
> from just after the turn of the century.  It has been pretty well  
> maintained, tho it has a very clear case of the killer octave  
> syndrom.  There is a certain degree of mystic surrounding it so its  
> kept as is and used for various purposes.  Usually its held at  
> 442.  This next two weeks it is to be used for a recording session  
> and the requirements for pitch are 436.
> Two very curious things came out of the pitch change.  Number one  
> the piano took on an entirely different character.  The killer  
> octave and the glassy brilliance that the top area had simply  
> disappeared.  Whatever weakness of tone there was seemed transfered  
> down into the middle C area... but was nearly indescernable. The  
> bass had had many wild string pairs and this problem all but  
> disappeared. The overall sound became in general very rounded off,  
> and more full.  Brilliance was definitely there but not glassy.   
> Actually it became quite beautiful and balanced to my ears.
> The other thing that happened was that some of the people who are  
> used to the instrument expressed deep concern as to how this would  
> affect the instrument in the long run.  Indeed the fears raised  
> bordered a declaration outright that the instruments tone will have  
> been forever damaged by the pitch change.  Where does this kind of  
> idea come from ?  We are talking about a 23 cent pitch change taken  
> over two days, two weeks of play there and then back up to 442 over  
> a couple days.  The idea that this should somehow significantly  
> change (read destroy) the tonal character of the instrument for  
> ever is one I have never heard anyone declare anywhere before. Any  
> comments ?
>
> Expectable enough was the roughly 50 50 split on the subject of  
> whether the temporary change in tone was a good thing or not :)
>
> Cheers
> RicB
>
>