Pitch Raises ... Multiple Passes?

[Alan R. Barnard]

Susan wrote: "I feel that the [muting] strip gives good service in pitch
raises, when multiple passes are involved."

Well, okay but ..

If you have an ETD, and have not learned and tried Dr. Sa;nderson's
scientific pitch raise/lower method, you are really missing something.

I have made raises as much as 70 cents in one go, Sanderson says you can be
off 160 cents and still do it in one pass. It doesn't even matter if the
amount "off" varies a lot up and down the keyboard--30 cents hear, 45 there,
etc. It usually leaves the piano incredibly close, with a surprising number
of  freebies or near-freebies as you fine tune.

Note: The term "near-freebie" is not to be found in any dictionary.

Here is the Sanderson method in a nutshell. I will write it for the more
common pitch raise. Lowering pitch is done exactly the same way, only you
tune a percentage flat rather than sharp.

1. Pitch raise one string at a time from the lowest string to the highest,
in order; not up and down from a temperament.

2. Take occasional measurements--Sanderson says "one or two per octave" and,
for certain, after crossing a break--and set your ETD to cents sharp
according to this formula:

    All wound strings: 1/5 (Example: You test 10 notes, or so, and find them
about 30 cents flat. You would set your ETD to +6 cents sharp and tune those
strings to that setting.)

    The first six plain-wire strings: 1/3 (Example: The first 6 plain-wire
strings average about 27 cents flat, you set the ETD to +9 sharp and tune.)

    All remaining strings: 1/4 (Example: Your tested notes average 30 cents
flat, you set the ETD to +7.5 cents sharp and tune.)

3. CAUTION from Dr. Sanderson: To avoid overstretching and maybe breaking
strings, no note should be tuned more than 50 cents sharp no matter what the
correction turns out to be. This limits the pitch
raise to 160 cents over most of the keyboard. Repeat the same process on a
section of notes that require more than a 50-cent correction.

These are thoughts from my own experience:

    A. You do not have to get overly fussy with this, just test a few notes
going up, and take a rough average. I never get out the calculator to get it
exact.

    B.  I strip the piano completely as follows:

        1. Strip every pair of bi-chords instead of every other pair. When
you pull the strip, you will be exposing one string per pair at a time,
which is what you want.
            Tune the lower string to the ETD then pull the strip one loop,
tune the remaining note of that pair by ear and the first note of the next
pair to the ETD, etc., etc.
        2. Strip tri-chords in the usual way. I tune the center string
first, pull one loop of the strip, tune the right string of the note you
previously tuned by ear and the left string of
            the current note by ear, then the center of the next note to the
ETD. This sounds complicated but is not.
                    Example:  Tuning C40 through D#43: Tune C (center) to
ETD, pull one loop, tune B39 (right) by ear, tune C40 left by ear. Tune C#
(center) to ETD, pull one loop,
                    tune C (right) by ear and C# (left) by ear. Tune D
(center) to ETD, pull one loop, tune C# (right) by ear, tune D (left) by
ear. Tune D (center) to ETD, pull one loop,
                    tune C# (right) and D (left) by ear. Tune D# (center) to
ETD, pull one loop, tune D (right) and D# left by ear ... etcetera.
            Strictly speaking, Sanderson wants you to go from bottom to top,
one string at a time. But I don't like moving mutes or shoving them between
closely spaced strings and
            doing it with the strip, as described, works just great even
though you are jumping ahead three strings then backtracking.
        3. When doing the "by ear" tunings, don't tune like you are tuning
unisons. Just pull it close, slightly on the sharp side, if anything, and
move on.

    C. If the piano is really a mess, I go through it before strip-muting to
chip up any really flat notes to the highest note I find in that unison. I
don't know if this makes a real difference but it makes
        sense to me to bring everything as close as possible before starting
AND you might as well find out right away if you have a pin block problem.
This is NOT tuning unisons, it is just quickly
        bringing any bad little boys back into the classroom, so to speak,
and should take very little time.

I'm told the newer SATs have a built-in program to do all this. I do it with
a Yamaha PT-100II.

Result: A ONE-PASS pitch raise (or drop) that is VERY accurate and can be
done in a half hour, or less. Really! The following are Dr. Sanderson's
words: "The method is so accurate that most notes come out to within five
cents of the correct pitch--close enough so that the final tuning will come
out right on the button."

Have fun,

Alan R. Barnard
Salem, MO