how far?

[Phil Bondi]

"D. R." wrote:

> Hi,
>
> How much can a tuner change the pitch on a piano and expect it to be stable?
> I am looking for information regarding new pianos that have had just one
> tuning.
>
> Tunemein Kentucky!
>

Hi D.R.

I deal with mostly new pianos, and I am finding out that stability is not
possible after just one tuning..what I am seeing in customers homes is an
average drop of 1 cent per month right now, and this is after I tune them on the
floor and in the customer's home..so does that count for 2 tunings..??!?

I've had some private conversation recently on this subject wondering if my
technique was suspect..i'm finding out that it is just a fact of life with the
new piano until it gets alot of tunings and play..and I would have to agree with
the observation, because I went through my database to check on pianos that I
service that were NOT new, and found that the stability on those instruments was
fine..they barely moved after either 6 months or a  year, depending on the
customer..

There's alot of variables involving stability..those of us that deal with mostly
new pianos would LIKE for them to be stable..but the fact is, there's alot of
variables that are simply out of our control..personally, I stress 3 tunings in
the first year for a new piano..those that do, I am finding out, ARE more
stable..and those that elect to tune-it-when-I-feel-like-it, I find myself doing
mini-pitch raises first to get to the fine tune stage..just a fact of life.

These are my observations in my limited time in the field so far.

Rook