more on floating pitch

[Kerry]

I think you're right on, John. When I worked at the university here, I came
to think of this as "average A440". In temperate climates with wide humidity
swings, A440 is a moving target. It seems to me that in many, if not most,
situations we need to focus more on keeping the pitch close and the
intervals sounding as good as possible. Once I got tired of chasing absolute
pitch around the seasons and changed to this approach (in combination with
humidity control where possible), I was much happier and so were my fussy
clients. 

 

Kerry Kean

Kent, Ohio

 

  _____  

From: John Formsma [mailto:formsma at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:15 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: more on floating pitch

 

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 7:53 AM, Mike Spalding <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net>
wrote:

 

This piano was tuned to A440 in March, and by August the A2 - A3 octave was
13 cents wide.  Are you saying that If I had floated the pitch at 439 in
March, that octave would not have gone as wide?

Mike


It depends on your humidity swing.  But, yes, it probably would not be as
wide in August.  If you are tuning right before a humidity increase, you can
tune the tenor section a bit flat, and the bass octaves slightly sharp (in
anticipation of the tenor going sharp).

 

Like I said before, to you and me as tuners, either way the octaves would
sound off.  It just wouldn't be as bad if the tenor is not raised as much,
then further increases because of humidity. And you can't do this with
critical situations.  But it works for homes, and should work fine for
schools.  Better stability is the goal.

 

I've observed this repeatedly with a church Yamaha C3 that experienced huge
changes with humidity. Before I "clued in", I would be doing a pitch raise
to A440 in late winter, and the piano would be 12 cents sharp by early
summer. And it sounded horrid!   After I realized that the pitch corrections
were causing instability, I would leave the overall pitch just under A440
(A440- 3 cents since their organ was at A440) in winter, and just over in
summer.  It then stayed much closer to A440 throughout the year.


The climate control in that church was horrible.  Before I installed a DC
system, it got tuned 5-6 times a year.  Now, it is tuned 2-3 times a year.
The tenor was always incredibly out of tune with the rest of the piano.
With the DC, it still goes out, but not nearly as much.

  
-- 
JF

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