instability

[Ed Carwithen]

Weird piano today.  It is a Baldwin Spinet, not too old, maybe 7-10 years.
I tuned it in August, owner wants it done every six months.  
  It was sitting against the wall, and there was a heater duct behind the
piano, blowing hot air against the bottom of the piano.  Maybe that is the
source of the problem.  Maybe not.
  We moved the piano (on my advice), and I proceeded to check it.  A4 was
37 cents flat on my SAT!  I did a pitch raise, and then did it a second
time.  Then did some regulation things.  Then proceded to try to tune.
lower section was flat again, OK, bring it up.  center section (C#3 to F#5)
mostly flat in lower half of section, not too bad upper part.  Treble
section flat.  OK, tune it up.  Go back and check.  C#3 about 8 cent sharp,
next several notes equally sharp.  OK, bring back down. Get up to 4th
octave, check octaves, C#3 (D, D# etc, up for half the octave is now 8cents
flat.  OK, bring up, get to 4th octave, it is now 8 cents sharp.  The thing
see sawed back and forth several more times.  I finally got it so the
octaves didn't actually scream, and quit.  I will go back next week and try
again.  Maybe it will have settled down by then.
  I thought that maybe I had a broken frame.  I've never had a piano go up
and down like that while I was tuning.  This was more than a little drift
as you work on adjacent notes.  This was entire groups of notes going berzerk.
  What say you, oh might gurus.  Any thoughts one what ails this thing or
is it just haunted?


Ed Carwithen
John Day, Oregon