stability of pitch raises

[Farrell]

I have your answer - from my perspective. Keep in mind that I am not able to
do these 6 minute pitch raises and 20 minute tunings - yet.

If my first pass starts with the pitch within a couple cents, any pitch
correction will be minor and I can just whip though the pass (whip -
relatively speaking). If my first pass is a significant pitch correction it
will take a bit longer because I will be adjusting my SAT every octave or
so - more frequently if the flat pitch varies greatly from note to note. It
will also slow me up a bit more because the piano likely has not been tuned
for many years and I will want to drop the pitch a tad with my first motion
in case there is any corrosion between the string and top bearing point. I
will also make my tension increase slower, the more corrosion is apparent
and the older the piano is. So, there are a couple factors that make the
first pass take longer as the pitch is farther off to start with - a good
ten minute difference for me often.

Beyond that, the tuning itself will take more time. If that first pass
started out within 2 cents, it may have been a 20 to 25 minute pass. The
tuning pass will be so close that it (even for me) will go lightning fast
(again, relatively speaking). On a decent piano, my tuning pass in this
situation will sometimes be as fast as 40 minutes. If the first pass had
raised the pitch 50 cents or whatever, the tuning pass will start out close,
but many notes will be a couple/few cents off. Maybe you will have that one
octave in the tenor or treble that did not cooperate and you need to make
one quick separate pass over it to straighten out the pitch raise. When
doing the tuning pass after the significant pitch correction, I will spend
significantly more time on each string - a tad more to get it where I want
(just because it was further off to start with) - but probably more
significantly because I will work the string a bit to be sure that I get the
tension in all the string segments evened out. Especially in the treble
sections. You can just sit there and repeatedly & rapidly & firmly & with a
controlled appropriate amount of authority, depress the key (note, I never
whack the key) and watch the pitch go down. I try to make all these notes as
stable as I reasonably can (I also do some extra whacking - oops, did I say
that! - during the pitch raise). So the tuning pass also takes more time to
do after the larger pitch raise. My tuning pass time after a 50 cent or more
pitch raise will usually be in the 60 to 75 minutes range.

So therefore, the 50 cent pitch raise took me about 40 more minutes to
complete the two passes than the two quick passes for the up-to-pitch piano.
I charge $40 for one pitch raise pass. That is also why I pro-rate the small
pitch raise in the 5 to 20 cent range ($2 per cent in that range)

That's where I am at. I trust that answers your question. Feel less bothered
now? (he said in a non-sarcastic way)   :-)

I look at where I am at, and I know anyone can say that "gee whiz, Jim
Coleman or Randy Potter (or about a billion other tuners) is a better piano
tuner than you - they are faster also". And they would be right. I know
that. We all gotta start somewhere. I do try very hard to progress and do
the best job I can. That is likely why perhaps I usually am doing two pass
tunings - sometimes perhaps in situations that do not warrant it - to
compensate for some of my shortcomings. I don't think I charge more than
anyone else. And considering my typical clientele (nobody even has a clue
whether the piano is in tune or not - I know that), I am quite sure I am
making them happy. I had a new client call for an appt. yesterday. I gave
him the standard thing about it might need a pitch raise. He came right back
with "Oh, I know it will need a pitch raise. It was last tuned at 435, and I
want it up to 440". Totally blew me out of my chair. I had never had anyone
even know what those numbers might mean. I'll be watching real close how he
likes the tuning I put on his piano (newer Yamaha Disklavier). It is
entirely possible that I might even do the pitch raise, and then do a two
pass tuning - again, just to compensate for whatever shortcomings I may have
and just because I am not so self-confident at this early stage of my tuning
career. I realize that after tuning 50,000 pianos one can develop an acute
sense of what and how much is appropriate for each situation. I'm not there
yet.

But, I am getting there. Ssssslllllloooooowwwwwwllllllllyyyyyyyy! Take care
Ron.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: stability of pitch raises


> In all recorded history (so far) no one has asked the glaringly obvious
> question. I can't imagine why not, so I had just as well do it and get it
> over with.
>
> If folks are habitually doing two pass tunings anyway, and since they're
> probably using an ETD that does pitch raises within a couple of cents of
> dead on in one pass (as we read repeatedly), why would they find it
> necessary to charge anything above the cost of a tuning for a pitch
> adjustment? This one has bothered me for some time now.
>
> Ron N