Rainy day tuning: Was: pitch change

[Farrell]

No answers from me, only a funny story (funny now that some time has passed)
I did my first concert tuning last fall. Outdoor concert. Yamaha C3. Partly
cloudy day. Piano partly under a roof. Sun shining directly on piano
strings/soundboard. No where to move piano. Start tuning. Cloud comes by.
Tuning screwed. Tune some more. Cloud goes away. Tuning more screwed. Etc.,
etc., etc. Pitch changes of 10 cents in minutes.

Never, ever, have I had such a frustrating experience before or after.
Richard Marx (sp?) played. He liked the tuning (it was horrible). What a
joke. Go figure.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 7:48 AM
Subject: Rainy day tuning: Was: pitch change


> Friends,
>
> Years ago a client called me on the morning I was scheduled to tune her
piano.  She
> wondered if we should reschedule, since it was raining.  My understanding
at the
> time was that the tuning doesn't change that fast, so not to worry about
it.
>
> But incidents such as Warren's would debunk that.  The past couple of
years I've
> heard of, and experienced, pianos changing even in the process of tuning.
Jack
> Stebbins has a story about doing a concert tuning.  He was part way
finished when
> someone snapped the air conditioning on, which changed the tuning before
he
> finished.
>
> What do you tell people on rainy days?
>
> Regards,
> Clyde
>
> Warren Fisher wrote:
>
> > Remember this piano had been very stable for years, but didn't have a
D/C
> > system.  The C of  C  picked up the piano at 8a.m. and installed it on
the
> > outside porch of their building.  At 10a.m., your's truly arrived to do
my
> > thing.  A4 measured 13 cents sharp!!  The piano was used by the C of C
until it
> > was returned to the caterer at 6:30p.m that day.   At 9a.m. the next
day, I
> > measured A4 again at 18 cents sharp!!  For those of you still using your
forks,
> > that's nearly a third of a half-step in 23 hours!
>
>
>