My sincere thanks to everyone who replied to my post of last week regarding climate control and string covers. Your input is much appreciated! -- Paul Milesi, RPT Howard University Department of Music Washington, DC University: (202) 806-4565 Home: (202) 667-3136 Cell: (202) 246-3136 E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com Website: http://www.pmpiano.com From: Paul Milesi <paul at pmpiano.com> Reply-To: <caut at ptg.org> Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:00:22 -0400 To: PTG CAUT List <caut at ptg.org> Conversation: Climate Systems, String Covers, and Effects on Tuning Stability & Tone Subject: [CAUT] 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. I¹m sure it is to some extent, but was thinking it¹s tonal effects are nominal, and are far outweighed by gains in tuning stability and rust prevention. What are your thoughts on this? Is the sensatin of damped tone anything more than psychological? If any of you use string covers, do you leave them on for recitals? Are the Edwards covers any different than 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 (I¹m 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 I¹m 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 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20090921/0a5aa36f/attachment-0001.htm>
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