Oops?

[Warren Fisher]

Hey John,

My customer didn't neglect it.  He bought it that way. I don't usually
make pitch raises that way either. I do two passes for anything over 60
cents flat.  It was a "senior moment" that got me in trouble.  What I
would like to know is do any of you have any good procedures or short
cuts to bail yourself out of a situation like that once you're in the
hole!  Surely there is a way to compute what the string pressure will do
to the pitch in an unusual situation like that.

Warren

John Ross wrote:

> Hi Warren,
> I have been meaning to say something about this for a
> while.
> Anyone who has been playing a piano that grossly out
> of tune, is going to notice such an improvement, they
> are going to think you are a genius to get it sounding
> so good. So don't worry, they didn't.
> Just getting it close will be good enough, and tell
> them to call you in 3-4 months, or whatever makes
> sense depending on the environment, (low humidity
> winter/ high summer) to retune.
> Now before, you all get on my back. This is just for a
> customer that didn't care. In fact they may not call
> you for another 10-20 years. As long as it sounds
> good, and they are satisfied, don't worry about the
> miniscule differences. Some pianos show deficiencies
> in not so exact tunings others don't, same for the
> owners perception.
> I probably explained this all wrong, but I hope, I got
> the point across in a rough sort of way.
> Regards,
> John M. Ross
> Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
> piano.tech@ns.sympatico.ca
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Warren Fisher" <fish@communique.net>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2001 5:07 PM
> Subject: Oops?
>
> > The other day I was chatting with my customer (big
> mistake right there),
> > while setting up a SAT pitch raise of about 125
> cents on a small
> > console. Now I usually do a two stage PR with more
> than 100 cents
> > flatness to avoid over-stressing the strings and of
> course in middle of
> > octave 4, I get that lovely pranging sound!
> >
> > So what do I do now, go on and possibly break more
> strings or reduce the
> > overset?
> >
> > I chose the latter.  With the SAT at A440, I
> continued (No more strings
> > broke). Another mitigating factor- I normally
> increase the pitch overset
> > above the treble break by 15% of the measured
> flatness, in this case
> > 18-1/2 cents to allow for the lower pitches usually
> found in the upper
> > areas of neglected pianos.
> >
> > Now I have a piano at pitch to D4, -24 cents at A4
> and about -15 in the
> > treble.
> >
> > Being an old fighter jock, I attacked the biggest
> problem first; the -24
> > cents. Starting at D#4, I overset 6 cents and
> proceeded to the break.
> > Next I read the flatness in several areas of the
> treble and averaged to
> > -16cents. I overset 4 cents (I figured I had overset
> enough on the first
> > time through), and went to 88.
> >
> > What did I have now?  A mess!
> > It was on pitch through the wound strings, about G3.
> All the wire below
> > D#4 was about 3 cents flat. D#4 to the break was 2-3
> cents sharp and
> > most of the treble was 5 cents or better flat.  Go
> figure!
> >
> > Obviously, I don't have a real good mental picture
> of what was going on
> > there. A couple of times in the past, I would put
> extra overset in
> > somewhere in the pitch raise and for some reason not
> get back into the
> > page I was using and would tune a bunch of notes
> with a zero in the
> > right window.  When I went back over them with
> correct settings the
> > notes were always over-sharp on the next time
> through. You have to
> > reduce the overset through the section in error
> about 10% and then go
> > back up to the  original overset.
> >
> > Does anybody have ideas on this?
> >
> > Warren
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Warren Fisher RPT
> > fish@Communique.net
> > 1422 Briarwood Dr.
> > Slidell, LA 70458-3102
> >
> >

--
Warren Fisher RPT
fish@Communique.net
1422 Briarwood Dr.
Slidell, LA 70458-3102