A-440 and Ethics.

[Farrell]

I routinely pull them up to A440 and tune in one sitting from wherever they
are - I've done quite a few that were at least 300 cents flat. No trouble at
all.

At most, I might leave one piano a year below standard pitch. It will be
because the strings started breaking and there was reason to think they
would continue, or because it is a little old lady on a fixed income that
doesn't sing for church, is not taking lessons, and/or does not organize any
jam sessions in her home.

One time I ran into a piano that was known to not have been tuned for more
than 100 years. It was about five semi-tones flat. I recall that we left
that one one or two semi-tones flat.

Get the piano up to pitch and let it start to stabilize. When you do it a
little bit at a time, the piano will take forever to achieve any stability.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey@sbcglobal.net>
To: <dporritt@mail.smu.edu>; <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics.


> Hey, I need some input from tuners that HAVEN;'T broke a plate or Julia is
going to really be freaked...;-]
>
> David I.
>
> Bye the way "the sound" was the Bondo breaking...
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> From: "David M. Porritt" <dporritt@mail.smu.edu>
> To: <rnossaman@cox.net>, <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Received: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 14:07:29 -0600
> Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics.
>
> >"The Sound" is one you don't forget.
>
> >The funniest one I heard about was a small grand piano that a local (no
longer in
> >business) dealer bought cheap.  It had a break in one of the long struts.
He cleaned it
> >up, refinished the plate including bondoing the broken spot.  He sold it
to a local rock
> >band for use in a restaurant.  It was 200-cents flat and needed to be at
440.  A friend of
> >mine went to the restaurant to tune it not knowing about the broken plate
with the
> >bondo repair.  The piano survived the pitch raise and tuning but just as
he was packing
> >up his tools..........  He wasn't sure he'd ever be the same!
>
> >dave
>
>
> >__________________________________________
> >David M. Porritt, RPT
> >Meadows School of the Arts
> >Southern Methodist University
> >Dallas, TX 75275
> >dporritt@mail.smu.edu
>
>
> >----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> >From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman@cox.net>
> >To: <dporritt@mail.smu.edu>, Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> >Received: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 13:50:30 -0600
> >Subject: Re: A-440 and Ethics.
>
>
> >>>Yes, once.  It was a Kohler & Campbell console.  The plate was
obviously
> >>>put in the frame crooked and under tremendous tension.  You can make a
> >>>plate fit the frame with a strong enough power tool.  It was clearly
> >>>defective.  You do remember those, however!
> >>>
> >>>dave
>
>
> >>I do (shudder) remember those. Haven't seen one in forever. I wonder
why.
> >>Maybe the plates eventually broke in all of them???
>
> >>I've seen a few broken plates, and declined to do the pitch raise and
> >>tunings requested without repairs, but I haven't yet had one break while
I
> >>was working on it. Kent Swafford, as I recall, heard THE NOISE of a
plate
> >>suicide firsthand a half dozen years back, through no fault of his own.
He
> >>even posted the story to the list.
>
> >>Ron N
>
>
> >_______________________________________________
> >pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
> _______________________________________________
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