[CAUT] How long to stabilize??

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Diane.

In late on this... dont seem to have nearly as much time on my hands 
these days but I wanted to reply. Haven't read  what appears to have 
become a lengthy discussion yet, but I'll check out some of the posts.

My answer in any case is that I think the settling time is entirely 
dependent on the climate difference between where they came from, and 
where they are now.... and to some degree how long they were at their 
previous location. There is a lot more to why pianos change pitch 
relative to climate then any conceivable change in soundboard and bridge 
material dimensions can account for... which directly implies that 
pinblock, case parts... and literally every thing that is part of the 
chain of components holding the string tension can get involved one way 
or the other.  Some of these parts are going to take longer to finish 
any <<permanent>> change then others.

Damp Chasers can not completely compensate for this by any means. 
Strikes me that a Damp Chaser at best will more even out an existing 
climate (seen from the instruments perspective) then significantly 
change it. I've had instruments come directly from Germany to UiB and 
take three-four months to settle in, and others delivered from more 
local suppliers settle in nearly immediately.

I suppose to some degree this also depends on how green the wood is.  
Not all manufacturers handle the wood seasoning process alike... and for 
that matter not all models from the same manufacturer always get the 
same priority.

Sum summarium ... I don't really think there is a straight on answer.  I 
do suppose there should be a reasonable time limit.  If they havent 
pretty much stabalized after tops 6 months... I perhaps would start 
worrying.

Cheers
RicB


    I know many of you have written in the past about the problems with
    tuning stability in brand new loaner pianos from manufacturers. 
    Fortunately the college where I am tuning has purchased these
    pianos, so they won't disappear just when we get them settled in.

     However, my question is this; in a practice room in a small
    college, how long, or how many tunings do you think it will take for
    the school's new Kawai UST-9's  to stabilize in tuning?