Sharp organ

Glenn Grafton glenn@graftonpiano.com
Sat, 12 May 2001 16:08:53 -0400


>  > I just had an experience with a pipe
>>  organ which was recently tuned.  The pitch was just
>>  above A-443. I double checked this with a spare fork
>>  and with the digital piano in the church.   All
>>  confirmed my initial finding.  Really sharp.  Of
>>  course, the choir director loves to play duets.  The
>>  piano they use is a 25? year old Kawai 300 grand.   My
>>  question is this: In a situation like this  do we just
>>  go ahead and tune the piano that sharp informing the
>>  church they will have to tune it again and pay for any
>>  string breakage?  How sharp is too sharp?  The organ
>>  is almost new and pitch was not a problem prior to
>>  this.  How much slack do we cut pipe organ tuners?
>>  Thanks,
>  Greg Hollister RPT

>
>IMHO the answer is none. I would recommend that the church contact the Organ
>Tech and get the organ tuned properly, at his expense.
>Regards,
>Joe Garrett

Here's the situation we've encountered with pipe organs. Often times 
the church has a maintenance contract on the p.o. which includes 
tuning. Unlike a piano the pipe organ guys often times do not go 
through and tune the whole organ.

A number of years ago we sold a new Yamaha U3 52" upright piano to a 
Lutheran church with a pipe organ. The organ was recently tuned. Our 
tuner (Harold West) tuned the U3 to A440. The church called 
complaining that the piano did not match the p.o. pitch. Reluctantly, 
the tuner went back and knocked a perfectly tuned U3 flat to match.

I explained the tuning issue to the music director. He contacted the 
pipe organ people to ask why the organ wasn't really tuned. The 
answer was that the rates would be much higher if they had to tune 
the whole organ to pitch.

The church now has a new Allen Digital Computer organ 
(http://www.allenorgan.com/) and a Yamaha C6 6'11" grand. The only 
tuning needed is on the grand : )

-- 
Glenn Grafton
Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
1081 County Line Rd.
Souderton PA 18964
http://www.graftonpiano.com/
glenn@graftonpiano.com
800-272-5980

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