established memory

[Richard Brekne]

Well, Ken and Terry.... I certainly dont know about the term 
<<established memory>> as it really hasnt been described in more then 
the most generalized and romantic of fashions, but then on the other 
hand I do find that pianos do indeed seem to hold tunings better if they 
recieve many tunings and are well maintained  in their first years.  I 
often underline the value of giving a piano a <<good start>> to new 
piano owners because this seems to be the case.  That said... I have no 
hard data to back up this suspicion, and I dont think there is any study 
out there which touches on the matter specifically.

Terms like <<Circle of Sound>> and  <<Pitch Memory>> are always fun 
ones... because they really are so pictorial that a precise 
clarification as too what they really are meant to describe never seems 
to be available. So they get ridiculed on the one hand, and supported 
with nearly religious fervour on the other hand, with really nothing 
inbetween.  Whether or not they actually stem from some real function or 
physical reality or not seems impossible to confirm or deny.

Btw Ken.... the Circle of Sound and the Circle of 5ths are to completely 
different worlds and have nothing to do with each other.  The Circle of 
Sound is a term coined by Steinway and Sons and is supposed to refer to 
an acoustic property they believe they build into their pianos and is 
used as one of their primary justifications for refusing to use tuning 
pin bushings. Great reading can be had on the subject matter in the 
archieves.

Cheers
RicB

Terry wrote:

> /"I have observed that some old pianos that haven't been tuned in many 
> years respond to pitch raise and tuning much more readily than others. 
> This can only be due to established memory."/
>  
> This sounds like a bunch of poppycock! Established memory? Maybe a 
> persistent bend in a string, but established memory? Way too romantic. 
> Is this theory promulgated by the originators of "the circle of sound"?
>