Pitch Raise Experiment

[Clyde Hollinger]

Ah, Terry!  I get weak just thinking about this, given my mortal fear of
breaking strings!  This is a great experiment, I guess, but I'm glad
nevertheless that I was a thousand miles away!  :-)

Regarding your last paragraph, there's just so much variation from piano to
piano.  Sure, some would take it, but others most definitely would not.

Regards,
Clyde

Farrell wrote:

> This post is perhaps most directed toward those having questions regarding
> the feasibility of raising a one hundred year old very flat piano up to
> standard pitch.
>
> My 12 year old son needed to do a science experiment and chose to
> investigate the breaking strength of assorted sizes of piano strings.
> Several sizes were installed at A4 and tightened until they broke, while
> measuring pitch with the AccuTuner.
>
> The subject piano was a 1901 Everett grand that was clearly all original
> strings and was 250 cents flat. All strings had quite a bit of surface
> corrosion visible.
>
> The original A4 was tested first. It was brought up to 440 hertz, and then
> up 100 cents, up another 100, up, up, up until it went to 75 cents sharp of
> D5 before it broke! This old puppy went 560 cents sharp before breaking! New
> strings were installed at the same location and went about 100 cents more
> sharp before breaking.
>
> Believe me, I have had plenty of strings break on old pianos - and clearly
> the strings on a very few old pianos will simply not hold the tension of
> standard pitch. The point here is that old strings clearly have the
> potential of holding standard pitch - and then some - and presumably many
> will hold standard pitch just fine. I think we needn't be shy about
> attempting to raise the pitch of an older (and otherwise sound) instrument
> to standard pitch.
>
> Terry Farrell