pitch floating

[Don]

Hi Ron,

I've long been floating non humidity controlled pianos on the basis of the
first wound string in the bass--when humidity is high, and at A4 when it is
low. It seems to provide a "closer to A440" most of the time to take this
approach.

At 11:18 AM 8/29/02 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>I've been back and forth on pitch floating over the years.  Float to what, 
>that's the question.... Yes, the  longest plainwires are now at +35 cents, 
>but the bass strings are mostly at pitch.  So, pull the wound strings up, or 
>the plainwire down, or go for somewhere in between?  Which strings take the 
>moving better?  Where will each section be in 6 months?
<snip>
>I don't think that floating helps the octaves match any better through the 
>big shifts, and Don has documented the unison mismatch that happens without 
>humidity control.
>
>The only other thing I've tried for limited tuning budgets for the practice 
>rooms is to stagger the tuning schedule throughout the seasons, with the 
>hopes that there is always some pianos to be found tuned, and at pitch.  It 
>also relieves the tuning marathon madness of this time of year. Otherwise, 
>with them all on the same schedule, they sound good for a while, all drift 
>to yuck, then sound good, drift to yuck, etc..(rinse and repeat)
>
>Ron Koval
>Concordia U.


Regards,
Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.

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