Sure, I know what happened. Have you ever noticed that many aural tuners will stretch C88 WAY, WAY sharp? Like even 50 cents sharp of where most would arguably tune it? Well, maybe this dude tuned C88 by ear (to who knows what - maybe he/she had perfect pitch) and then used a SAT to tune from there - just adjust the pitch of the SAT a little bit. Just a thought. Although, it sounds like someone using some kind of machine without a clue. Sometimes if a piano is like a semitone or more flat and my pitch raise comes out a little bit sharp - like maybe 4 or 5 cents sharp - if the whole piano is more or less there I will often leave it a tad sharp - figuring it will go nowhere but flat, and soon. But 35 to 40 cents? Now did these folks mention anything about just moving from Death Valley, where the piano was last tuned in January, and you just maybe had three straight weeks of rain in Ohio - and the piano was on a back porch with windows open? That might do it. But I don't suppose that is the case. Terry Farrell Piano Tuning & Service Tampa, Florida mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net> To: "Pianotech, forum" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 10:33 PM Subject: Strang call Hey folks, I went on a strange call tonight. A school teacher and his wife had a run of the mill Acrosonic that needed some attention. The couple are collectors and performers of such instruments as folk harp, autoharp, mandolin, dulcimer and the like. The room the piano was in was completely full of these instruments some of which were hand made and some that were purchased. Interesting to say the least! I was quite perplexed, however when they related the story of what the last tooner did. They say that he took the action out and back to his shop because it just wouldn't work all dirty like it was. He returned it with steamed hammers and I think reshaped as well but did not bother to align them to the strings. The lost motion was adjusted such that the hammers all had varying blow distances, most on the rail but no margin for error and quite a few off the rail creating a wild looking hammer line. All this was easily corrected but what puzzled me the most was their relating how the last tooner said that he had tuned the piano sharp! Now I didn't give this much thought until I sat down and found after sampling quite a few notes throughout the scale that it was approximately 35-40 cents sharp on average. Now the customer had not had it tuned again in over a year for fear that they would get another one like the last guy. Could any of you shed some light on why a piano might be tuned THAT sharp intentionally? It seems to me that even if the piano were 150-200 cents flat and the overpull stuck like glue where you put it it still wouldn't account for it being that sharp by accident. I really don't get it! Is there any kind of reason of benefit to doing this? It really sounded quite shrill! As if an Acrosonic needed any help in that department. :>) Well, chime away if you care to. Greg -- Greg Newell Greg's Piano Forté 19270 Harlon Ave. Lakewood, Ohio 44107 216-226-3791 mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
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