This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment What he said. Early in my career I was called in to tune a university piano- the first time ever. The piano had just been moved from the basement to the third floor and it was out something like 75 cents. I was really sweating it. Nobody was around to authorize additional expense for a pitch correction and I did not know what was reasonable and customary. I did not know what the university expected from me or what their regular guy would do. I don't really remember what I ended up doing but it was a no win for me. The piano did not hold the tuning well and word quickly spread among the faculty that my tunings didn't hold. Since that time stability has become the paramount concern for me. It seems to me that is the primary concern of most pianists. Like John, and anybody else who has tuned the same pianos twice a year for 20 years can attest, I run across pianos that consistently go 20 or more cents flat in the winter to 20 or more sharp in the summer. If you put those on 440 every time the swings are huge. If you split the difference they aren't. Anybody who has been tuning the same pianos long enough can attest to this. For me it is a matter of professionalism, but I define it a little differently than Tim. Most of my clients have no clue what 440 is let alone having some kind of expectation that is where the piano will be. They want the piano to sound good most of the time and that is what I try to provide them within the constraints of their budgets. If they can't spring for a DampChaser then I'll do my best to keep it as stable as possible. Even if 440 is what they want my method keeps it closer to 440 for most of the year. After I explain it to them in those terms they are content with the results. Dean Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre Haute IN 47802 -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of John Formsma Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 2:36 PM To: Pianotech List Subject: RE: frequent tuning - floating pitch? was tuning Tim, In my area, if you pitch correct a piano each time it's tuned, it will be out of tune much more when the season changes than if you pitch float. Relative humidity here ranges from 20% in winter to 70% in summer. For me, it is about stability. I've watched this with the pianos I tune regularly. When I first began to tune, I was very picky about A440. So, when a piano was 10 cents flat in the winter, it got a pitch raise. Then, in the summer, it was 12 cents sharp and sounding awful! I eventually figured out why. :-) In my opinion, ethics has little to do with it. If so, you could not "ethically" tune to A442 when asked. And, you could never leave the piano even a tenth of a cent off. That's hardly practical, especially when you consider that A4 often wanders once you've finished the tuning (unless you do 2 or more passes). If my customers want A440 every time, then they must be willing to pay every time for a pitch correction, or they need to get a Dampp-Chaser system. But, if they aren't willing to do either, then I'm going to pitch float because the tuning will last longer. I mark on the invoice what pitch it's tuned to. I've had one person ask -- and I told her why. It's a question of value for the customer: does the customer get more value with a pitch float tuning, or by a pitch correction with a tuning? I think the former for my area. It may be different out on the "left coast" -- what's the humidity like out there? John Formsma -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: frequent tuning - floating pitch? was tuning From: timothy ehlen <tehlen@uiuc.edu> Date: Sat, January 28, 2006 1:09 pm To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org> List, I agree with James about this. Even though I don't currently tune professionally, I feel the urge to weigh in on this one, and I ask for your consideration of this point. It seems to me that the public has a natural expectation (and rightly so) that a piano will be tuned at A440 after a professional tuning, and I question whether doing otherwise without explanation is even ethical. Also, I question whether there isn't more interest in the convenience of "freebies" rather than "stability" in this case. As an example, would someone pass the RPT tuning exam by tuning a whole piano at A339? I doubt it. On that point, it seems to me that this practice might be violating a regular customer's trust, as someone mentioned that "most people won't notice," or something to that effect. It seems to me as a musician and teacher that there are essential reasons for students to hear a 440 tuning which go beyond the practical considerations of playing with other instruments. As this is the current standard, it does have a bearing on pitch memory, some of which is psychological and intuitive in one's listening and playing. One further example from my own experience: when I free- lancing in Los Angeles as a pianist/teacher/technician, I was fortunate enough to have a contract tuning the Steinway grands monthly for an upscale club. In this case, I thought that it was my minimum responsibility to keep the pianos at 440--actually, I didn't consider doing otherwise. Regarding the discussion about tuning frequency, it seems to me that there could be one argument for tuning less frequently, namely that the tuning pins will, over time, gradually lose their tightness in the pinblock. Perhaps in cases of regular tunings, this is a consideration, although it still seems to me that any mitigating circumstances or considerations should be discussed with the client before leaving a piano at something other than A440. Thank you in advance for your reactions to this concern, Tim ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/b4/aa/29/57/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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