In a message dated 7/15/00 8:26:03 PM Central Daylight Time, lesbart1@juno.com writes: << My teacher says he can do a 100 cent pitch raise, and make it "stick" on the second pass. Another tech, local, says "NO" to that notion, and says one should tell the customer "It will take three tunings, two weeks apart", to get it stabilized. My question is regarding the "stretchiness" of strings on ordinary pianos needing PR's of 50 cents or more, and better pianos which need less adjustment, but may not have been tuned in two-four years. I'd be most appreciative of the experience of others. les bartlett ____________ >> One misnomer a lot of piano tuners seem to have is that when doing a pitch raise, it's the stretching of the strings that cause the piano to drop in pitch. My opinion is that the strings don't stretch, (unless they are new). What caused the piano to drop in pitch after the first go around on a pitch raise is the added pressure on the soundboard. When you can make adjustments to make the soundboard stable, your final tuning will be more stable. One thing I have been doing to make the piano more stable on a pitch raise, is start in the middle, and work my way up, and then down. I do this not only on pitch raises, but also on a regular tuning. Before we had ETD's, we all did that. We set the temperament, then tuned up, and then down, (or visa versa). I still do that and I find my tunings to be much faster, and more stable. Willem
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC