<html> At 05:50 PM 3/2/2005 -0500, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Ed,  The strings go sharp when they are cooler than the plate, and flat when they are warmer than the plate.  I happens fast - a matter of a very few minutes - even seconds if there is a draft.  If the piano has been subjected to a major temperature change, wait a few hours until everything in the piano has come to the same tempterture, and it should be back on pitch.  The cast iron plate and the steel strings have similar temperature coefficients. Jim Ellis</blockquote> Jim,    From the department of redundancy department, here we are again on this subject. Back on Feb. twenty-tooth, (subject: Mind-Bender), I was confused about one of your statements and I am still perplexed. I hope you can find time to help my two remaining brain cells understand what you mean when you say: " If the piano has been <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>subjected to a major temperature change, wait a few hours until everything in the piano has come to the same tempterture, and it should be back on pitch."</blockquote> Are you saying that if everything in the piano reaches the same temperature, even if that is a different temperature than where it started, that it will be back on pitch? Or do you mean that despite a "major" change, when the piano returns to it's original temperature it will be back on pitch? Respectfully, Guy Nichols, RPT </html>