Hi Jim: I am personally not in favor of the very careful pitch raises which many on this list talk about. There is no way of knowing just how much the piano may drift. This has a lot to do with the plate, back assembly and soundboard stability. First of all, I never use the word pitch when talking to the customer. That sounds too much like a sales pitch. I simple say: "For reasons of missing a tuning or two or due to newness of the piano, the tension level has dropped. For best results it would be good to restore the tension level before attempting a fine stable tuning. This additional work costs $XX. If you are not prepared for the extra expense, I can tune the piano at the level where it is, it just will not be able to be played with the radio or TV at their level." 99% of the customers will say: "I would like it done right." "Quick and dirty" is the expression which describes this procedure. For raising 100 cents or more, two Q&D passes are necessary. Each one should take no more that 15 to 20 minutes. See me do it in 10 minutes on my video "Aural and Visual Tuning Techniques." This is not meant as a commercial, but you are welcome to buy it if you just gotta see it to believe it. You will also see what I mean by quick and dirty (Q&D). This two pass raise before fine tuning minimizes string breakage and stabilizes the plate and board better. The first pass is brought up just to pitch. Using jerk method rather than smooth pull of the tuning lever will result in fewer broken strings (well proven over many years). Often I come back a year later to find the piano right on pitch. By Q&D I mean if you happen to leave one note slightly sharp,leave the next slightly flat. It is the average tension restoration which we are after here. On the second pass, take some measurements as to how far the first raise has dropped. I usually take only two or three measurements. Here again, I only want to get into the ballpark as the result. I prefer to spend my efforts at precision and stability on the final tuning. The SAT III has two general levels of overshoot, 25% and 34%. I like to raise pitch using a felt strip throughout the piano. It is faster for me. Tuning unisons as you go is more stable and has less overall drop, but I am not interested in that until the fine tuning. The first raise is done to a program either calculated or of a similar piano. The second raise is done with a single measurement or two in the middle of the piano. This will more clearly define the amount of drop for this particular piano. I may use the 25% amount of overshoot in the Bass and then even reduce that another 10% in the offset. for the treble, I use the 34% over- shoot, and may increase the calculated offset another 10% in octaves 5 and 6, but not 7. The result of this will usually land the piano within 1 or 2 cents average of the intended final pitch. For both passes of the pitch raises, I start tuning at the lowest plain string and go upward chromatically. Then I tune upward again clearing the unisons (well not exactly clearing them remember Q&D?). I finish the Bass with a 25% overshoot, but mostly tune to fit the resultant raising of the Tenor section aurally, it's much faster. On the second Bass pitch raise, I may use the program more depending on the use of the piano (concert or not) On the fine tuning. I may have to slightly lower the tenor section for about 5 or 6 notes. In octave 5 or 6 I may have to raise again slightly, but the piano is already stable, just the tuning was not stabilized before during the raises. Now is the time to tune unisons and pound the keys many times. This is the best you can do for stability. I don't mean over pound. As one plays firmly, the higher partials are more easily heard and the unison will be more stable as a result. Play the keys once a second and make judgments at the impact of the tone while doing unisons. If you pound too hard, this will be noticed on your SAT or other ETD.Only experience will teach one how hard to pound to avoid knocking out the carefully tuned middle string. If you do knock it out,you probably did not tune it solidly enough in the first place. In the final tuning, I like to use the felt strip only from A4 down to the break and then come back up tuning the unisons and watching the SAT to make sure all three strings are still very close on the display. (the fact of a 3 string unison being flatter than either of the single strings does not apply as much in this area of the piano). Next I like to tune the entire remaining treble, doing the unisons as I go. I tune the two side strings with the SAT III and then tune the final middle string aurally. In the top octave I may choose to tune all three strings with the SAT. All along the way up, I am constantly checking all the notes below which have a partial at the note I am tuning. This way, I can see the balance of the octaves, double octaves, octave 5ths, double oct 5ths and the triple octaves on the display and also I can hear the results. I like tuning this way, it is fun. and I always play a little afterwards to hear the clarity. When I had less confidence I used to play all unisons afterward to insure there were no misteaks. That's still not a bad idea, but I usually don't take the time nowadays, having a pretty good idea how stable things are anyway. Jim, I have additional advanced information on using the SAT III which I will send you if you would like it. It is stuff I talked about in Reno this past summer. Fun stuff. Jim Coleman, Sr. On Mon, 3 Sep 2001 JSmith3109@aol.com wrote: > Mr. Coleman: I would appreciate your information regarding the SAT III which > I just purchased, for better stability and pitch raises as you indicated in > your e-mail to the PTG. Thank you very much for you refforts. > Sincerely, > Jim Smith > Jsmith3109@aol.com >
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