Need Stable Advice

[Clyde Hollinger]

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Dave,

Three possibilities enter my mind here.

1.  How far out of tune was the piano the second time you tuned it?
Some folks have a very low tolerance for any change at all, and even
with a complete Dampp-Chaser installation they will not be satisfied
with the stability.  I will never forget hearing Jack Stebbins recount
the time he almost had a concert tuning finished when someone switched
on (ah!  which was it now?) either the air conditioning or the stage
lights.  The tuning changed before he left the room.  Yes, it can change
that quickly, and I don't think any Dampp-Chaser installation is going
to help that.

2.  Sometimes no one has actually noticed that the piano tuning
changed.  They call just because for an important event they want to be
sure it is not out of tune to avoid potential embarrassment.

3.  What is the weather like in Washington state?  If the humidity level
is always above 40%, my opinion is that you do not need a complete
Dampp-Chaser system with the humidifying components, but the heat bars
and control unit are likely to result in an improvement, if there's not
an air current near the piano.  In that case use an undercover also.

It is unclear to me from what you wrote if you thought you might be able
to get away with just the heat bars and *no* humidistat.  That would be
a bad idea.  With no humidistat there is no way to control the drying
power.

I am not as pessimistic as Kevin regarding the church keeping the system
plugged in, but he has a good point.  I have found unplugged systems,
but in a minority of my installations.  At least one person in the
church has to care enough about tuning stability to keep an eye on that
plug.  If s/he finds a pattern of the system unplugged, then it's time
for detective work to find out what's going on and find a remedy.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger, RPT
Lititz, PA, USA

"Kevin E. Ramsey" wrote:

> Dave, what can I say? Churches are notorious for this. No, a
> damp-chaser isn't going to help, because the piano doesn't "belong" to
> any one person, therefore, no-one is going to be looking after it, and
> making sure it's plugged in. (Which it won't be, off and on).  The
> fact of the matter; pianos like being where humans live, and in the
> same conditions. Churches often, because of economics, turn the AC
> off, or way down when the church is not being used. Makes sense to me,
> but it's not good for the tunings.    The bottom line here is;
> Unstable environment=Unstable piano. But, that's just one person's
> opinion. Kevin
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: Dave Davis
>      To: Pianotech
>      Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2003 4:55 PM
>      Subject: Need Stable Advice
>       Hi List,
>
>      Hope this isn't too long, I'll try to include lots of
>      info.
>
>      Just before Christmas I got a call from a big church
>      needing an "emergency" tuning the next day (Sunday)
>      for a big program with full orchestra.  Since I'm
>      "less experienced", I had time to do it.  The piano,
>      1980 Yamaha C7 gray market, had been tuned 2 weeks
>      before.  It seems that they've had it about 3 years
>      and it won't stay in tune very long.
>
>      I carefully looked for structural problems and gave it
>      my best, stablest tuning (no laughing, please) and got
>      done as the orchestra was showing up.  I figured I'd
>      never hear from them again.
>
>      They called this week to schedule the next tuning.
>      Seems that I did something right, and they're hoping
>      I'll be able to make it more stable.
>
>      My "less experienced" feeling is that it's a climate
>      issue.  The church has a roll back ceiling, so even
>      though we don't have big humid/dry changes, it
>      probably has access to more changes than most rooms.
>
>      Dampp Chaser might be the answer, but in my chapter,
>      there is only one guy (that I have found) who uses
>      them, and he only uses just the rods with a
>      humidistat.  If it had only the rods, would it dry the
>      piano in such a way that it would experience the same
>      problems as gray market pianos in dry climates?
>
>      Got any other ideas?  Am I missing something?
>
>      Thanks,
>
>      Dave Davis
>      Renton, WA
>      Assoc. PTG
>
>
>
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