Pitch Raising Techniques

[Farrell]

I do that regularly. When I pitch raise a really flat piano - maybe 25+
cents - I try to leave it anywhere between A440 and A442 (assuming it is not
a pitch-critical situation like concert with other insruments that evening,
etc.). This is especially useful for those of us who have trouble doing a
100-cent pitch raise and coming within 0.01 cents of A440 target.   ;-)

I'll tell the customer that I'm leaving it a tad sharp - so that it doesn't
go flat before I get out the front door!

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey@sbcglobal.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 8:50 PM
Subject: Re: Pitch Raising Techniques


> I've thought about leaving the piano above pitch...maybe +5 cents.  Seems
like a good idea on the seldom tuned piano...speaking of which I'll leave my
own piano a little sharp next time...;-]
>
> David I.
>
>
>
> ----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
> From: Dave Nereson <davner@kaosol.net>
> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Received: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:45:50 -0700
> Subject: Re: Pitch Raising Techniques
>
>
> >----- Original Message ----- 
> >From: "Matthew Todd" <toddpianoworks@yahoo.com>
> >To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> >Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 9:15 PM
> >Subject: Pitch Raising Techniques
> >  > Can some of you tell me what pitch raising techniques work the best
for
> >you??
> >> Thanks!
>
> >    For me, it's faster to raise pitch without the ETA (ETD).  I
overshoot
> >between 20 and 50%, depending on the piano.  The amount of overshoot is
> >determined partly by an intuitive guess.  If it's a new piano that I
suspect
> >has only had one or two tunings in the store, and it's two beats flat at
A
> >49, I'll pitch-raise it to one beat sharp (50%).  And if it's 7 beats
flat,
> >I'll still overshoot by 3 or 4 beats, which is more than an ETD might do,
> >but I know it's going to stretch and go flat anyway, plus most people let
> >'em go too long, so I might as well leave it a bit sharp.
> >    But on an older piano, I don't overshoot as much because the strings
are
> >already stretched, and some of 'em might break, so if it's, say, 6 beats
> >flat, I'll pitch raise it to 2 beats sharp (about 30%) at A 49.
> >    If the piano is really old (before 1900), or if I sense or observe
that
> >the piano seems brittle, unlikely to hold a tuning at a higher tension,
or
> >has a propensity to break strings, or if I see that strings have been
> >replaced or spliced, I'll not pitch-raise it above A=440, and if it's
really
> >flat (1/2-step or more), I'll advise the owner that it may not be
advisable
> >to bring it up to standard pitch.
> >    There are exceptions.  If I think it was up to pitch at some point
not
> >too long ago, sometimes I'll tighten plate screws and/or seat bridge pins
to
> >jostle the strings a bit at their bearing points, then take the
pitch-raise
> >risk.
> >    I strip mute the piano, tune the temperament using one octave and
4ths
> >and 5ths -- no other checks -- then do all the octaves up, right-hand
> >unisons coming down, left-hand unisons going back up, then the bass
octaves,
> >then their unisons.  That's the fastest way for me.  I only do "unisons
as
> >you go" for the final tuning.  I've tried doing "unisons as you go" on a
> >pitch raise and don't find it to be any more stable than my faster
method,
> >plus I don't have to keep leap-frogging mutes.
> >    --David Nereson, RPT
>
>
> >_______________________________________________
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>
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