how high(low) do you go?

[Larry]

I'd be more concerned about the kink in the string at the agraff becoming 
part of the string's speaking length when the pitch is dropped to 
A440.  The resulting kink would cause strange sounds in an otherwise good 
sounding instrument. Now, given that the piano in question is a spinet, 
maybe this doesn't make too much of a difference, but being a new piano the 
pitch will drop anyway, and might even be close to A440 after a year.  If 
it was 50 cents sharp, I would choose to tune it 40 cents above A440 and 
let nature do the rest over the year.

Before when I worked in a music store prepping pianos, I got tired of 
dropping the pitch 10 cents to A440, then raising the pitch 10 cents in the 
customer's home after.  When I just tuned the piano between 5 and 10 cents 
sharp it was almost always within a few cents of A440 a few weeks later in 
the home.  Mind you, these were Yamahas, and I've never seen a cracked 
plate in one of these.

Larry Beach, RPT
Vancouver, Canada



> > Lynn Rosenberg wrote:
> > >
> > > Well, when I was working for a local piano dealer back in the 70's
>they've
> > > changed hands and the name has changed but anyway, tuned 3 Whitney
>spinet
> > > pianos, they arrived from the factory a half tone sharp.  I've never
>seen a
> > > piano that sharp. I just looked up in Grand spinet pianos, and the pitch
>of
> > > asharp is 466.1638.  I suppose if a Whitney spinet can take, a good well
> > > built grand can as well.  Any comments??? Lynn Rosenberg
> > >