[CAUT] Piano Storage Room

[Ed Sutton]

Diane-

You have a remarkable situation here.
If you can find a way to chart and track all these relationships, you may be 
able to write an authoritative article on the practical limits of tuning 
stability in a performance venue.
I am particularly interested in the results of adding and removing the 
string cover when the ambient temerature is different from the soundboard 
temperature, and how much the string cover raises the temperature when the 
dehumidifying rods are heating below the soundboard.

Ed Sutton

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diane Hofstetter" <dianepianotuner at msn.com>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:53 AM
Subject: [CAUT] Piano Storage Room



The manager of the new Rose Center at LCC is a wonderful young man; very
consciencious and very proud of their new Boesendorfer 290. He is anxious to 
do everything right for the piano, easy to get along with--can you tell I'm 
thrilled to work for him?

 We now have a full DC system with undercover and string cover and piano 
cover and piano "climate controlled" room.  We also have two dataloggers 
reading every 1/2 hour.  One lies on top of the piano, the other inside, 
underneath the string cover.

 Robert's first revelation was that he didn't need to take temp. and RH 
readings every minute!  Next was that the graph from the datalogger lying on 
top of the piano showed quite large temp & humidity swings.  The building 
engineer told him he didn't need all that system in the piano--the room was 
climate controlled.  He was delighted to be able to show him the actual 
readings.

We have been reading data for about two months now.  The string cover only 
went on last week.  I tuned it after installing the string cover and was 
pleased to see that it was the closest to pitch that it has been since it 
was delivered in June 2008.  What a relief!  I was chasing that pitch all 
over from way sharp to quite flat.

It will be interesting to follow the results of our efforts.  Not only are 
we measuring the temp and RH, but I am measuring and graphing every note of 
the tuning.

Diane Hofstetter

PS,  I wanted the string cover because sometimes the piano is left out at 
night when there are several performances during the weekend, and I'm hoping 
that I can put the string cover on overnight and minimize the swing.

       =