pitch raising techniques

[Ron Koval]

Ok, so I went back and read Joe's articles. (Thanks, by the way, all of you 
who have taken the time to send in material that gets published in the 
Journal.)

There seems to be two different (though similar) goals in pitch adjusting 
methods:

1.  Get the entire structure close to 440.
2.  Get all notes close to a fine-tuning after a single pass.

These may seem like the same thing, but the approach is different.  Joe's 
published method uses an identical template for all pianos - regardless of 
where the final tuning will end up.  This hopes to safely prepare an 
instrument for fine-tuning.

An overpull percentage method hopes to leave the piano tuned with minimal 
adjusting needed on a final pass.  This is based on measuring how far from 
the target pitch each section of strings are, and applying an overpull that 
is appropriate to the section of the piano, as well as the individual's 
tuning technique.  The tuning is calculated first, (It's best to use strings 
at pitch) with the overpull applied based on the starting pitch of the note.

So -
The first method generally is a quick, once over, without setting pins - 
realizing that when finished, the piano is ready for a "normal" tuning.

The second, usually incorporating some sort of averaging of the pitch 
adjustment measurements, hopes to finish the first pass with a substantial 
number of "freebies" - strings that are dead-on.  This requires more time to 
set the pins during the first pass.  You may hear that this method can't 
work, or won't be stable, but that simply has not been my experience.  What 
certainly helps is to keep good records as you develop this technique, to 
identify how different models of pianos react, allowing you to adjust and 
refine your technique over time.

Both methods use an A0 - C8 progression, tuning unisons as you go.  I know 
there are other approaches that have been written about here, including 
strip-muting, or tuning only octaves before going to chromatics - with the 
hope of spreading out the tension adjustment.  You have to make choices 
based on the condition of the instrument, as well as how far from pitch the 
instrument starts.

Ron Koval
Chicagoland