I Raise the pitch...on the pitch raise.

[David ilvedson]

> Date:          Mon, 07 Apr 1997 23:47:42 -0500
> From:          barre41 <barre46@ibm.net>
> Subject:       Re: I Raise the pitch...on the pitch raise.
> To:            pianotech@byu.edu
> Reply-to:      pianotech@byu.edu

Hi Norm,

I really don't worry so much about breaking strings but rather
having to lower the pitch on the second pass.  By unisons as I
go, except in big changes i.e. -100 cents, the pianos generally
are pretty close, maybe a little flat.  25% to 33% overpull is
too much for me.  I ought to qualify that by saying I let a little
sharp rotation of the Accutuner when I leave the note.  So I
suppose maybe the max for me is 5 cents above that notes pitch.
I'm sure, Norm, you can remember times when a string did break
when pitch raising.  I quess the question is did the string break
because of the pitch raise or because of structural problems in
the wire?  Was that string going to break anyway?

David ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA

> > I know I am probably in the minority here but I rarely if ever
> > overpull the pitch during a pitch raise.  If the piano is way
> > off, say -100 cents, I will raise to A440 on the first pass.
> > My feeling is the idea of overshooting +25% of pitch
> > change leaves me with a piano that I have to lower on the second
> > pass and I have a phobia towards broken strings.
> >
> > David ilvedson, RPT
> > Pacifica, CA
> > Pacifica, CA
>
> Your post brings back the memory of a tuning I did very early on. I was
> working in a music store on an old upright that was about 150 cents
> flat. The store was a little afraid to bring it up to pitch so I was
> instructed to tune it a half step flat. This was before the Accutuner
> had FAC and the expanded range so I decided to tune by offsetting the
> note I was tuning on the Accutuner. Guess what? I got confused and set
> the machine for the wrong note and tuned the piano in several passes a
> half step sharp instead of flat. Not one single string broke and the
> piano sounded very good. The piano was sold to a family where the child
> was studying Suzzuki method so I had to bring the piano back down to
> A-440 and the most interesting thing I noted was that the bass strings
> which had been quite dead before I started, now sounded very nice.
>
> This is not a procedure I would like to try again but I do not believe
> your fears of overpulling the piano are justified. Quite often I find
> that the top 1 or 2 notes on many pianos are 100 to 200 cents sharp even
> though the rest of the piano has been a little flat. There are a lot of
> tuners who cant hear those top notes.
>
> I agree that if the piano is 100 cents flat, it is better it just pull
> it to A-400 on the first pass because it going to take 3 passes to make
> it sound right anyway. The second pass I like to use the pitch raise
> calculator in the Accutuner followed by the final standard tuning. Also
> I tell the customer that it should be tuned again in 3 months because
> the piano will settle some due to the change of tension.
>
> Norm Barrett
>
>
ilvey, RPT
Pacifica, CA