piano recommendation

[Fred Yonley]

I checked with the local newsroom to get info about relative humidity
readings here in Dallas.  I was informed that the average in Feb. was about
72% at midnight and 54% at 6:00 A.M.  According to the newspaper the rel
hum. readings on Tuesday,  March 12 were 41% at midnight, 60% at 6 A.M.,
33% at 11 A.M., 27% at 1 P.M. 25% at 3 P.M. and 44% at 6 P.M. According to
the news person at Channel 4 the last few weeks have had rel. humidity in
the teens.  It does get dry  in Dallas and I do install the complete system
where practical.  The reason I did not in this church is that as I
mentioned the piano is moved off the stage regularly at least once a month.
 I didn't think the movers would want to empty the tank each time they
turned it on its side.  I asked the mover recently who is also an RPT and
he concurred that he would not want to have that duty.  Also I have found
that in another large church that it is difficult to get them to maintain
the water. I had not heard about this new device that shuts down when the
tank drys out.  I just called Dampp Chaser and they informed me that this
so called "smart heater bar" will be available for the first time in April.
It can be retrofitted to present tanks. It is the heater bar in the
humidifier that senses the lack of water and cuts itself off.  The price is
not known by Dampp Chaser at this time. I still would not have used the
humidifier in this church that has all the moving. The dehumdifier rods
were put in during a rather humid time when the piano kept going sharp.  I
do not see how the rods connected to humdistat would contribute to a
dryness problem. They shut down when the humidity is low. The only weird
thing about the humidstat  is that the two circuits alternate so that
something is always on. The rods may come on even though the humdity is
below 45%, but only for a short time.  As I understand it the rods do not
stay on all the time unless the hum. is above 90% continuously. I think
that also occurs with a humdifier i.e. it does not stay on all the time
unless the hum. is below a certain amount. The dampp chaser people do not
think that rods coming on for a short time at hum. at lower than ideal
levels will dry the soundboard out. It does take a while for their heat to
have an effect and the rods are on for a very short period of time. Maybe
some day they will make a humdistat that is smarter and not flip on the
other circuit at inadvantages times.

The dryness at the church with the B was getting dry mainly do to the
heating system.  The problem with the soundboard occurred between Jan. and
Feb. and it sounds like it was not all that dry outside at least in Feb.
We have not had much rain here for a number of months and I may have been
confusing that with the actual rel. hum. when I said it had been dry here.
It had been very dry in the church which is where it really matters. We had
a colder than usual winter and therefore the heat was on more than other
winters.  I concluded that it was dry inside because the piano kept going
quite flat.  I did not take a reading with the hygrometer.

I have been getting some suggestions from one technician about other things
to look for that could cause a sudden loss of tone. He  said he would
suspect rim expansion or some loose plate bolt before suspecting a
soundboard problem in this case. I have found no structural problems with
the case or unusually loose plate bolts.  There was one other item to
check, but I managed to erase the message before printing it.  Something
about a piece of wood 12 inches by 2 inches that may have come loose in the
treble section under the board.   I am still open for suggestions about
what went wrong. There is negative downbearing at the front of the bridge
at octaves 6 and 7 with positive bearing behind the bridge. Could a bridge
roll enough in a months time to cause a significant loss of tone?  Thanks
for your input.

F. Yonley