Fork or Float

[Bill Ballard]

On 8/5/96, Sy Zabrocki RPT rote:
<<>From Sy Zabrocki RPT
Circumstances on a job last week has prompted me to post this topic Fork
or Float.
This classic example reminded me of a symposium held at the PTG
Convention in Kansas City in 1994. A panel of several members was
selected to debate the issue. Some members defended the principal that we
should always tune exactly to the "fork" at A-440. Others defended the
concept that it is permissible to "float". Float means that if the pitch
is 12 cents sharp in the summer it is OK to tune maybe 6 cents sharp
knowing that in a couple of months the humidity will decrease and the
pitch will settle down to A-440 on it's own. Likewise in the winter, if
the pitch is flat 12 cents, then tune maybe 6 cents flat knowing in the
spring it will rise to A-440 on it's own.
The debate was about an hour and half. Those on the fork side stated it
will probably be necessary to tune twice anyway so tune to 440. The piano
is out-of-tune, you've been called and it your duty to tune A-4440.
I can't remember all the points stated. The float members believed the
tuning should involve as little movement in the strings as possible to
put the piano in tune.Over many years this would be less wear in the
tuning pin holes. The average customer is not going to notice 6 or 8
cents flat of sharp. Of course we tune to 440 in a concert situation.  >>

Jim Coleman Sr., Chris Trivelas, and I were the panel, with LaRoy Edwards
moderating. There was not nearly the debate which was anticipated as
the designated "fork-nailer", Jim admitted to having softened
considerably on an imperative pitch standard. (It's all yours, Jim, if you
want to qualify my gross oversimplifications.) Chris's adherence was not
so much for how the piano or its tuning might benefit from nailing pitch
to A440 everytime, as for the more general proposition that any sound
filling modern homes from audio systems is likely to be based on A440,
and that if the piano is not pitched there as well (assuming those times
of year when the tuning is close enough to allow a concise definition of
pitch), it will one, be at odds with the rest of the musical environment,
and two, fail to help in the internalization of a well-defined A440 in
the hearing of the pianist.

On 8/7/96, Mark Johnston <markj@ix.netcom.com> rote:
<<Use phrases like "establishing a consistant ear in her better students
for perfect tuning" and "assisting her perfect pitch students in honing
the foundation of perfect A440. >>

This was Chris's main argument. Mine of course was laid out in two
articles in the PTJournal 6,8/93. Yes there are constraints to letting
the pitch float. No it won't practically alter the tone or tunability of
the piano. No, it has no effect on how much the weather will push the
pitches around before the next tuning. But yes, the less wire you have
to move to put the piano in tune, the more solid the tuing will be and
the less the block will be ground out  or the bridge stressed.


On 8/6/96, Wimblees@aol.com rote:
<<Sy: As you mentioned, if we "float", the bass and upper treble will
need adjusting. If we "fork" (can I say that on the list?), we need to tune
primarily the middle of the piano. >>

Wim, that's not what finds the best A for the piano to float at. Remember
that the pitch of the middle of the piano generally hinges up or down
in relation to the bass section. Usually unless the pitch warp is really
bad, we can find an A440 in the bass which aggrees with an A440 somewhere
in the
mid-treble. This is what I use to float. It's not a matter of (in this
season) raising the outsides up to meet the swollen up tenor, but of
finding where the most stable part of the tuning is pitched at and using
that as the standard. (Chris Trivelas wrote an excellent piece recently
on finding what's left of the previous tuning and building on that  to
touch up (restore, if you will) the tuning.)


On 8/6/96, Wimblees@aol.com rote:
<<One suggestion to get around this problem is to tune the piano in the
spring and fall. The piano piano "float" up or down during the summer and
winter, but when you get there, during the more stable months, you won't
have to work as much. >>

Right on. It took me years to figure out why pianos should be tuned twice
a year, Spring and Fall. If you're tunning at six month intervals, summer
and winter tunings will be done when the piano is most bent out of shape.
At Spring and Fall the climate conditions are generally coming through
the zero line of the annual roller coaster. Are we self-serving by tuning
a piano at times of year whose climate conditions are roughy similar. No,
we're saving the piano wear and tear.

Yes I do own a fork (and had all three of them calibrated on Liz Baker's
SAT in June), and no it isn't  made of rubber.


Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter

"We mustn't underestimate our power of teamwork." Bob Davis