Pitch Floating

[Avery Todd]

List,

   There have been discussions in the past of letting the pitch float a
little. My question pertains to doing this on a concert instrument.
   We have 4 S & S 'D's which are usually tuned (or "touched up") several
times a week. Sometimes daily. How does one determine which note to use
as the pitch standard if one wants to let it float?
   Almost invariably, the low tenor is sharper than the rest, with it
basically decreasing as one goes up the scale, at least after the lowest
treble break. Then the bass is almost always right on.
   If the piano is roughly the same amount sharp throughout, no problem.
But in the above case, wouldn't it be better to just go ahead and lower
the sharp portion(s) and tune as usual?
   That's what I usually do, but have been curious about which note (or
area) you "floaters" use to determine the pitch level.
   Just thought I'd throw something out for thought over the weekend.
Have a good one.

Avery

P.S. I do use an SAT III with my 'D' tunings loaded into memory.