Forgive my craziness, but with most of the stuff we tune year after year, 1 or 2 cents really isn't going to matter much............. JMO les bartlett houston On Thu, 04 Nov 1999 15:59:19 -0500 Robert Scott <rscott@wwnet.net> writes: > >A while ago I asked if anyone had data on the exact temperature >dependancy of steel tuning forks. Since that data was not >forthcoming, >I conducted some carefully controlled tests on several different >forks. >What I found was that for small temperature variations, the pitch of >the fork goes down 1 cent for every 7 degrees Fahrenheit rise in >temperature. In particular, for A-440 forks, this translates to >one beat in 4 seconds for every 7 degrees temperature change. >Since forks are often calibrated by the manufacturer at 68 degrees, >what can you do if you have to tune a piano in August in Texas at >an open-air venue? Well, if the air temperature is 85 degrees, this >is 17 degrees higher than the calibrated temperature of 68 degrees. >Knowing 7 degrees equals 1/4 BPS, 17 degrees is .6 BPS, or 6 beats >in 10 seconds. So you can achieve A-440 in the piano by tuning the >A4 sharp so that it makes 6 beats in 10 seconds with the fork. > >As an aside, I magnetized a fork by passing a strong magnet between >the tines. The result was a 1/2 cent rise in pitch. A bulk tape >demagnetizer put things back where they belong. So make sure >your handy picker-uper magnet is not stored next to your fork. > > >-Bob Scott > Ann Arbor, Michigan > > ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.
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