A-440 and Ethics.

[Avery Todd]

Hi Ron,

Been there, seen that, heard that and STILL don't believe it! If a string 
(or plate, for that matter) is going to break, it'll break no matter how 
long a given tuner takes to get it up to pitch. I actually believe it's 
because a lot of "tooners" would prefer not to have a string break (and 
then have to replace it, of course), so they "subscribe" to that fallacy! 
JMNSHO!

If there's no evidence of previously broken/replaced strings, the tuning 
pins feel OK, not too much rust, ETC. I just give the customer a complete 
warning of what "could" happen and if they accept the possibility, I just 
do it! If strings break at the beginning (in the middle of the piano), then 
I'll tell the customer and back off and tune it where it is. If they break 
toward the end of the tuning, they break. I'm not going back and retuning 
the piano lower at that point!

Hope this doesn't sound too harsh, but it's what I've "evolved" to over 
about 30 years of doing this!

Regards,
Avery

>This has been a mystery and an aggravation to me from day one. I can't 
>tell you how many times I've showed up to tune a piano that was tuned six 
>months ago and found it a semitone low, with the explanation that the last 
>tuner was planning on raising it a bit each time it was tuned until it was 
>(eventually?) up to pitch so the strings wouldn't break. The piano 
>typically has the last tuner's name in it at least a couple of times, but 
>it is still a yard flat. Sometimes it's still flat enough to need a pitch 
>raise after YEARS of these tunings. Sheep dip and snake knuckles! Where 
>did this idea originally come from? It seems to be automatically taken on 
>faith everywhere, for some strange reason, but it just ain't so. This can 
>be demonstrated by doing a pitch raise or two and putting the thing on 
>pitch the first visit. Take notes, compare string breakage incidence per 
>piano (rather than per tuning, obviously), and see if sneaking up on it at 
>much greater expense to the customer breaks fewer strings in the long run. 
>By my notes, it doesn't. I always assumed the marketing leverage to worry 
>people into springing for more and more frequent tunings, was what the 
>approach was originally for, though the tuner may innocently be under the 
>impression that it actually does save the strings and just happens to not 
>mind the extra work it gets him. Meanwhile, I'm now at least an 
>explanation, a PR massage, and a pitch raise behind schedule (if no 
>strings break), because the last guy played the sneak up on it game. And 
>if a string does break during the process, it will be, in the customer's 
>mind, because I rashly didn't follow the demonstrably wise and saintly 
>conservative philosophy of the previous tuner who, though he obviously 
>must have known what he was talking about, somehow WASN'T CALLED TO DO 
>THIS TUNING. Why not? That's a tough one to get an answer to. What story 
>does the sneaker upper tuner tell the customer when strings start breaking 
>a quarter semitone shy of 440 and nine tunings into the process? I don't 
>get it.
>
>Ron N
>
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