Instrument condition

[EHILBERT@midd.middlebury.edu]

Bobby, I agree with most everything that Avery has stated.  I prefer to
tune such pianos with my AccuTuner.  It make life much easier, I believe.

A couple of additional thoughts to Avery's:

      When a piano is way down in pitch, say 100 to 300 cents, it is rarely
all at the same pitch level unless someone tuned it there.  If all looks like
it will take the pitch raise then I proceed in this manner.
1) make sure all plate bolts are tight.  Otherwise the plate will move as
you raise pitch and be usnstable that way.  Also, if really loose, I
believe it may help protect against the possiblility of breaking the plate.
I have never broken a plate, but do presently have three instruments with
broken plates - they do break, so tighten those bolts.
2) If you try to raise a string 100 to 300 cents all in one pull you most
likely will pull some strings around the hitch pin somewhat.  That will put
all new bends in the string and unseat it from the bridge as well.  That will
add to your stability problems!
3) I will start at the lowest bass and work upwards tuning the unisons as I
go.  Moving very quickly, I usually will bring the worst notes up to get them
in the ball park and to check for tuning pin tighness.  Then raise all strings
to a common level such as 100 or 200 cents flat.  Don't bother to lower any.
Tune up 100 cents to the next level. Then from 50 to 100 cents flat I use some
judgement.  If the piano is relatively new with little likelyhood of strings
breaking, I wll go to the pitch raise mode and go above
A440 as the machine determines, resetting every four or five notes or as
needed.

The a final tuning with a return tuning in several weeks.  All of this should
be agreed upon with the custome before starting the work, or I don't do it.
4) If the piano is old and likely to be breaking strings, the from the 50 to
100 cents flat point I will tune to A440 pitch before going into the pitch
raise mode.  At this point I am usually dead tired of the piano and will
choose to do an accurate last pitch raise from the previous A440 tuning level.
Since the whole piano was pretty even at that last level, the pitch raise
actually sounds pretty decent at this point and I will usually leave that
tuning as is for the two week delay.  The customer is already thrilled with
the improvement, is more willing to agree to a "final tuning" in two weeks, and I get to get
away from the piano with some sanity.
5) If seeking stability, I would recommend at the final tuning to tap all the
strings down to the bridges and at all other places where the strings make
bends, reseat them.

way up to A440 once are these:
      1) This is the first time that strings are likely to be approaching
the breaking point and one can get a feel for how things are going before
raising them 25 to 30 cents above final pitch.
      2) One does have to go above pitch eventually since the pitch will
always fall some.  But starting from 100 cents down will require a 25 to 30 cent raise above
A440 if one wishes to end up at A440 pitch.  By going from 100
flat to A440 only, the pitch will drop 20 to 30 cents and then the pitch
raise above !440 needs only go 5 to perhaps 10 cents above A440.  On an old
piano, that can easily be the difference between no broken strings and several.

This may take a bit longer, but repairing broken strings is also time
consuming and not stable for a long time.    Sorry for the typos, but hope you
get myh drift.

Ed Hilbert RPT