tuning instability

[David Porritt]

Wim:

After 10 days the piano was stable enough for recitals.  Yes, it was tuned every
week after that, and will be tuned at least every week for the rest of its life.
That's the lot of the recital piano.  You're right, it does take some time to get
that "6 months, only humidity pitch change" but this piano will never go even a
month without tuning.

dave



Wimblees wrote:

> In a message dated 98-05-09 09:17:49 EDT, you write:
>
> >I'm convinced it's not a matter of time, but how many times the piano
> >has been tuned.  After one of our concert grands was restrung last
> >Summer I had a graduate student practice in the shop.  He practiced
> >every day, and I tuned every day.  After 10 days, the piano was stable
> >enough to use for recitals.
> >
> >dave
>
> Dave:
>
> Although it is important to tune a piano frequently in the first couple of
> weeks, to work out the initial stretch, and to keep the tension up, it doesn't
> do any good if afterwards you don't keep doing that for a certain perdiod of
> time. It might be stable enough for a recital, but tuning it often in the
> first couple of weeks does not make the piano stable in the long run. Why do
> we encourage our new piano customers to have their piano tuned at least 4
> times in the first year?
>
> After I rebuild piano, it gets 6 tunings in a 2 week period in the shop. When
> I tune it, it is tuned 10 cents high. After the piano is delivered, I give the
> customer one more free tuning about 2 weeks later. Most of the time, the pitch
> will have dropped about 10 cents in that period of time.  I do a pitch raise,
> and tune the piano to pitch.  I then encourage the customer to have me come
> back after 2 months. If she does what she is told, the piano will be about at
> pitch. I then return in 3 months, then 4 months, and then keep the piano tuned
> at least twice a year for about 3 years. By this time, I consider the piano
> "stable". If the customer calls me in 4 months, instead of 2 months, the pitch
> will have dropped  about 25 or 30 cents. By now the piano has become
> "unstable", and instead of it being stable after 3 years, it might not be
> stable for 4 or 5 years.
>
> Willem Blees RPT
> St. louis



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David M. Porritt, RPT
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
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