plate reaction was Re: Pitch Raising to A440.......Or Not?

Ron Nossaman RNossaman@KSCABLE.com
Sun, 19 Aug 2001 12:58:29 -0500


>After raising pitch 50-100 cents,and leaving the piano at 440 I usually
>expect the piano to drop and need another tuning within a few weeks.  Does
>this suggest that I am missing something?
>
>Sid Blum


Hi Sid,
Obviously, something is moving, but why does it have to be the plate
flexing? When you raise pitch 100 cents, you most likely aren't going to
get tensions in the string segments fore and aft of the bridge equal. Over
time, temperature, and humidity changes, the string will tend to render
through the bridge gradually until those fore and aft tensions are pretty
close. Since you pulled the segments between the bridge and pins higher
than they were, the segments between the bridge and hitch will probably be
of lower tension that what you just tuned, so the pitch drops at the back
scale steals tension from the speaking length (etc). If you leave more
tension between the agraffe and pin than there is in the speaking length,
the pitch may go high first (since there is less friction at the agraffe
than at the bridge pins), then low later as the string slowly renders
through the bridge. 

Anyway, that's my take.

Ron N


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