Alan writes: > didn't Dr. Sanderson >and others test this whole business and determine that all changes to >the piano caused by changing string tensions are immediate? >As this issue has a definite impact on the way we conduct business, I'd >like to see a definitive answer here, not just opinions or anecdotal >experiences. > Greetings, Hmm, you can wish for definitive, but that needs lab conditions of statistical importance, so I don't think it will happen. I know that my least stable tunings are the ones that I do directly on top of a major pitch raise. Even though the tuning will be clean enough for recording, a couple of days later, it is useless. An often tuned piano, left suddenly off the schedule, will maintain its unisons and octaves a lot longer than a piano that is pulled up 12 cents and then tuned immediately after. At least, in my own experience. I always attributed it to the slower change found in distorting wood fibers than steel molecules. It doesn't seem illogical that additional stress on a captured wooden panel would cause continuing changes for 24 hours. Often, the time for "adjusting" will be what it takes to fix a pedal squeak between the raise and the tuning, but I tell myself that the first few minutes of new tension are probably greater than the next few hours. I don't know what the rate of change is. I just know that my tunings hold together a lot better on pianos that were at pitch to begin with. Ed Foote RPT www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/ www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html <A HREF="http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/399/six_degrees_of_tonality.html"> MP3.com: Six Degrees of Tonality</A>
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