A tuning question

[Don]

Hi Julia,

Do you have humidity readings from Feb of 04? and from Feb of 05? If you do
you may find that the sharpness you have found will work out to about 4
cents (at A4) for each 5% of humidity change.

If you left "your card" in the piano the other tuner may well have tuned
the pianos floating the pitch in August. Many technicians do that to
minimize the pitch change. Like you I prefer A440--but if the client
refuses to control humidity I find I am forced to abandon my ideals.

I'm not surprized that the Kawai was more stable than the Steinway. The
Kawai designs often rely on the metal plate more than the wooden frame.

Sell the church full humidity control systems. You will make money--and
they will save money--which can then be used on mechanical concerns.

As for 10 cycles sharp--what exactly do you mean? Do you mean that F2-A4
was ten cycles sharp? Or do you mean A440 was A450?

At 04:37 PM 16/02/2005 EST, you wrote:
> 
> Greetings, 
> 
>                In Feb '04 I tuned two church pianos that were below pitch.
>They were  down at about A430 or less. After I was done they were A440. I
>did pitch raises. This year, I went back and found that both pianos were
>about 10 cycles sharp...and this is February...the heat has been on for 4+
>months the things should be flat, if anything, right? But nooo.... they're
>sharp. 
> 
>               On the first piano, (a Kawaii studio upright) I thought: "Ok
>this is in a basement (choir rehearsal room) and it could be that moisture
>absorbed into the thing and so it's sharp". However, when I got upstairs to
>the sanctuary ( a Steinway console)  piano, its even sharper(!) (about 3
>cycles sharper than the one in the basement) and a little business card of
>another tuner is in there; a date on it reads: 
> 8-9-04  A440...along with a list of other dates that indicated that they
>were tuned twice a year by this tuner. (That card with dates was in there
>last February too).
> 
>               I am a stickler for A440 so today I took each of the pianos
>and made them A4440 again. My question is: WHY? Why were these pianos so
>***@#$*#$%^% sharp!!!??
> Could it be that the other tuner turned them up in August 04 after I was
>there in Feb '04?  The story was when I was called in that were tuned
>regularly by this other tuner, (the card indicated such)  Yet, the pianos
>were so flat when I was called in, in Feb '04 that I had to pull them both
>up....what gives????
> 
> 
> Julia Gottchall. 
> Reading, PA
> 
> 
> 
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Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.P.T.
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat

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