Mystery Pitch Swings - Revisited

[JElving@aol.com]

Sorry I have not replied to the answers I got (Dale Probst, Patrick Poulson,
Roland Kaplan) referring to the mystery pitch swings on the Wurlitzer
console, but with Christmas having just ended, things got frantic (mostly the
business!).

In answer to your questions/suggestions:
1. No, the plate fasteners were not loose. (My practice is to *always* check
& tighten those before I tune, especially on a piano new to me.)
2. The piano had not come from a dryer climate. It had either come from here
in Sacramento, or the San Francisco Bay area. It had been in the church for
approximately three months prior to my tuning it, so was well acclimated.
3. It is located in a building with no water within 60 feet of it.
4. I use two different hygrometers (as a check) and they were both within a
couple of percentage points of each other. As a matter of fact, each time I
am at the church, the humidity is pretty much between 50%-65% year-round. The
sanctuary is actually a *permanent* tent which should be much more prone to
wide fluctuations in humidity.
5. There appears to be no seperation between pinblock and back. Other than
the lack of tuning care in the past, the piano seems to be in very good
shape. In fact, before the church got it, it was probably not used much since
day one of its original purchase.
6. The only real difference that I can find between the two tuning periods
seems to be the much lower temperature in the room the second time. As is
usual with churches, I would guess that the heat/ac is turned off when the
room is not in use.

Whatever the reason, I am still perplexed at the difference between the two
pianos, and between the bass and treble sections. Anyway, thanks for the
ideas, and I will continue to seek help from the list as problems arise that
I can't find answers to.

John Elving, RPT
Elving's Piano Service
Sacramento, CA (home of the 1997 CA State PTG Convention)
JElving@aol.com