frequent tuning - floating pitch? was tuning

[Dean May]

Well I appreciate having the charge of being unethical withdrawn. ;-)

On the subject of pins loosening with frequent tuning. I think the problem
is poor wood selection in the pinblock. Some pinblocks stand up very well to
repeated tunings. Others do not. I've noticed for example that Story and
Clark studio pianos seem to quickly turn to mush. Repinning with oversize
will work for about 5-8 years then they start getting loose again. Now I use
CA glue which seems to work better. 

Extremely hard blocks also seem to not hold up well to frequent tunings.
When the wood is so hard the pin cannot be fitted with as much interference
as with on a softer block. Less interference (i.e., larger hole
drilled)means there is less tolerance for variation of hole sizes in
drilling, and less tolerance of variations of tuning pin sizes. This adds up
to less tolerance for wearing of the wood with frequent tunings. Just my
intuitive analysis. 

I've done experiments with cabinet makers plywood, very strong and lots of
laminations. But it is entirely unsuitable for a pin block. Just a few turns
of a tuning pin and the torque quickly evaporates. Anyway it just affirmed
to me that the quality of the block is critical for frequent tuning. Others
on the list are eminently more qualified than I to judge what varieties and
grain selections constitute a quality and long wearing block. 

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 timothy ehlen
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:33 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: RE: frequent tuning - floating pitch? was tuning

Interesting ideas that I hadn't considered.  Although I have 
not encountered this kind of difficulty with pitch 
fluctuation on my own pianos, both new and re-built (despite 
living in Cleveland and now Illinois for quite a few years 
now), I can appreciate the perspective of technicians with 
more experienceand your experience dealing with fluctuating 
climates.  I agree that in cases where pitch tends to 
fluctuate in a problematic way, stability would be a higher 
priority than tuning to A440.  

I've never really considered this, however...I always 
thought a piano was "in tune" if it was at 440 and the 
notion of "pitch correction" seems to be another way of 
saying "tuning."  (I tend to think of the "pitch raise" as 
the result of years of failing to have the piano tuned, in 
which case an extra charge seems reasonable.  I know I won't 
get much support for this notion on this list though:)  

I would assume that pianos naturally fall a bit flat over 
time, but if they are really swinging this far sharp during 
the summers, then that's another matter altogether, I 
suppose.  Based on your responses, I would modify my 
previous view that it is not ethical to leave a piano at 
anything other than A440, although I still hope this is the 
norm in most cases.

About my suggestion of pinblock wear, this was the only 
possible problem that I could think of with very frequent 
tunings, based on the loosness of some pins on concert 
grands that I've encountered, including my own CD.  I would 
assume that a re-stringing would need to be done earlier on 
these instruments that have regularly been tuned weekly or 
even daily, comparing with the normal grand that gets 2-4 
tunings per year.

Tim 



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