A 440

[Tom Cole]

Patricia Neely wrote:
> 
> List
> A customer called to have his piano tuned but said the last tuner would not
> bring it to A 440  How do you determine at what pitch you tune  and which
> pianos should not be tuned at A-440. Thank you for your help. Pat Neely

I leave this up to the customer. If the piano is around 100 years old or
if it already has had some string replacement, I'll let them know that
there is a certain risk involved with pulling it to pitch and that this
is how much it costs per string if some break.

If they're not sure, I ask if anyone playing the piano has a sharp ear
or is a serious musician, and if it will be used with other fixed-pitch
instruments or the stereo. I tend to push for 440 if there's a young one
taking lessons and whose ability is yet unknown. Otherwise, I won't
offer my preferences. It's their piano and their money.

I often give them what I think are the probabilities that a string will
break, mostly based on age, but I've been wrong too many times (and so
has the weather forecaster).

When I pitch raise an old piano, I get a little nervous if it feels like
I have to pull pretty hard. It might be a high tension scale (which is
more likely to break strings) or there is a lot of friction in the
bearing points (same consequence). So I might change my prediction in
that case.

It sounds like, in the instance you mention, that the customer would
like it at 440, in which case you might give it a go and if it starts
breaking strings in the middle of the piano, then they would have good
reason to reconsider their decision. If you're using a tuning machine,
just proceed normally except that I'd pull it to pitch with no overpull
on the first pass. 

Good luck.

Tom Cole