Pitch raising on older pianos

[Mitch Ruth]

All good suggestions so far, thanks!  Yeah Phil, A440 was not set as a 
standard untill the late 1920's and I think in some parts of Europe A338 
might be what they use (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken).  
This is a nice piano, I will try to talk the guy into some restoration for 
it.  The other interesting thing is that although it says "Harvard Piano, 
Cincinnati OH" on the fallboard, Bob Pierce tells me it was actually made 
across the river in Dayton, KY.  So I already like a piano made in the 
Bluegrass.

Mitch Ruth
DeMossville, KY (just 20 miles from Dayton, KY)


>From: "Phil Bondi" <tito@PhilBondi.com>
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Subject: RE: Pitch raising on older pianos
>Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 12:11:50 -0400
>
>Mitch, all good suggestions so far to do a good job for this 
>piano..however, with
>a piano this old(1910, correct?), I would also recommend(from my 
>experiences) NOT
>bringing this instrument up to A=440..but rather A=436/437. I say this 
>rather
>timidly amongst my peers only because I am under the understanding that 
>A=440 was
>not a standard until later in the 20th Century.(?). Mitch, I have done it 
>both
>ways with pianos that are as old as the one you describe: all the way to 
>440 and
>I have left some(usually uprights) at a slightly lower pitch. At a lower 
>pitch on
>those older uprights, there seems to be, to my ear, a certain richness in 
>the 2nd
>and 3rd octaves that doesn't appear to be 'as present' with a slightly 
>higher
>pitch...splitting hairs? - perhaps, but I can only describe my own 
>experiences
>and results from what have experienced..as they say, Your Mileage May Vary.
>
>Rook
>

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