pitch correction

[Don]

Hi John,

I routinely do pitch corrections of this magnitude. I do use an EDT and
over compensate by 5 cents on wound strings and 15 cents for plain steel
with very few breakages (read less than one broken string for 20 pianos). I
use an impact lever for all tuning.

At 03:13 PM 3/1/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear List:
>	Last week I was called upon to tune a P S Wicks upright that
>measured about 155c low.  ( That 155 is not a typographical error).   I
>told the piano's owner that the safest process would be to bring it up
>about 50c at a time ( pitch raising, not taking the time to "tune" at
>each level) so that if more than a few  wires did break that we would not
>be in a situation where the piano could not be put in tune with itself
>fairly easily.  I explained to her that I simply did not want her to end
>up with a piano that couldn't be played without a restringing job -
>therefore take it a little at a time in order to be able to determine at
>what pitch level the piano could be tuned. BTW she estimates that the
>piano had not been tuned for 35-40 years.
>Anyway -----------------  On the first raise to about -100c the wires
>felt fairly elastic - not really brittle - but not as elastic as I would
>have liked to have felt.  On the second raise to about -50c the wire felt
>more elastic by quite a bit.  As if that was not enough on the third
>raise to about A440 the wire felt even more elastic - almost like new
>wire.  I tuned the piano to A440 with no wires breaking - much to my
>customer's joy -( and mine also for that matter.)
>Why, I ask you, would the wire have felt more elastic as the piano
>approached standard pitch?  I can't figure this out as most of the
>piano's that I have had to do major raises on have felt a little less
>elastic as they approached standard pitch.  Your explanations(s) will be
>welcomed by this inquisitive tech.
>
>                                                                         
>  Thanks in advance:
>                                                                         
>   John R. Fortiner
>                                                                         
>   e-mail: jfortiner@juno.com
>
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>
Regards, Don