[pianotech] Pitch raising

Gerald Groot tunerboy3 at comcast.net
Sat Jul 3 08:23:32 MDT 2010


8 or 9 out of 10 times on say a 1/4 tone pitch raise strictly aurally, I can
get that piano to be darn near, if not dead on pitch during the first pass
meaning, I will only have to go over it a 2nd time and not a 3rd.  Many
times, I find octaves very, very close, if not on.  Many notes do not need
much correction at all.  100 ¢ pitch raise?  It might drop back down some
but I can still get it back up and very close on the 2nd pass.  One key, is
to raise it past A/440 knowing how far up to place it which can only be done
with experience.  Many techs do not do this.  Especially the newer ones.
They raise it up to 440 and watch it drop for the next 3 or 4 pitch raises
afte that. 

 

The tuning will be a good, clean solid tuning.  How do you describe how good
of a quality in an email or accuracy anyway?   I guess, read what I wrote to
Ron N and call these people and ask them if I can do it and what it sounds
like.  Each name that I provided in that email along with their email
address are all very good technicians with a great ear.  

 

Jer

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Terry Farrell
Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 12:27 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Pitch raising

 

2ndly, I did not say how close to A/440 we were getting the piano on the
first pass.

 

Okay, that seems realistic (kinda). So if a "fine tuning" requires a piano
to be within two cents of target pitch, what good does that do us?

 

Again, we are NOT talking concert tunings.

 

Right. So what level of tuning quality are we talking?

 

Terry Farrell

 

 

On Jul 2, 2010, at 8:03 PM, Gerald Groot wrote:





Well, let's play.  When I was 18 years old, I raised pitch on an old upright
1 full tone to A/440.  I was timed by my mentor.  My first pass over it was
completed in 6 minutes.  That was 36 years ago.  I went over that piano to
fine tune it an additional 3 times after that and was done in 45 minutes.  I
asked him if this tuning would pass (he was an RPT) the PTG exams?  He said,
yes it would.  Is this something I do daily?  Heck no.  I don't care too.
But it is, something that can be done and something I have done many times.

 

2ndly, I did not say how close to A/440 we were getting the piano on the
first pass.  You are assuming way to much now.  The main goal here, is to
raise the piano up to pitch and to get it as close to 440 as we can.
Remember this.  Pitch raising and fine tuning are completely separate from
one another.  We at this point, are only pitch raising.  We give it our best
guesstimate to get it close to pitch.  With many years of experience, we can
guess pretty darn close after tuning many thousands of pianos.  Do we make
mistakes in our guesstimates??  Sure we do.  That's where EDT's are nicer
for pitch raising.   My point
  We are raising pitch and getting that piano
CLOSE TO the target pitch of A/440 for the first pass only ASAP. 

 

Okay, now, let's change the time frame to make it more realistic for some of
you.  Let's say, we raise pitch 1 full tone in just under 10 minutes or even
15 minutes.  Now, let's say the piano is still 1/4 tone flat.  There is no
reason why we can't raise pitch 1/4 tone in another 10 minutes or 15
.  30
minutes total so far..
 OK, now the piano should be fairly close to pitch
and not so far out of tune any longer.  One final pass, oh, let's say, 20
more minutes for a total of 50 minutes.  Is that more realistic? 

 

The thing is to get the piano on pitch.  Then worry about the fine tuning.
If it is still way off from pitch, do it again. If we waste 45 minutes just
getting the piano on pitch, what's the sense in that if we can do it in
10-20 minutes?

 

If we can use an EDT to raise pitch 100 ¢ and not worry about how far up we
are raising the treble, we most certainly can do likewise without using an
EDT. 

 

Again, we are NOT talking concert tunings. 

 

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