Is A440 too much tension for old pianos? (was Old Bosie)

[Hechler Family]

Cy,

I just had a tuning call for a Thiebes-Stierlin Cabinet Grand (upright) 
(~1919) that was at least 100 cents flat. I just set Cybertuner to the 
widest pitch raise setting and started from left to right going as fast 
as possible. The first pass was just to get the strings close to pitch - 
the bi-ads (right string) and tri-ads (left & right strings) pulled up 
but not necessarily "tuned". On second pass, readjusted Cybertuner for 
normal pitch raise and took a sampling. (Amazingly, A-440 read A-439.59) 
and continued. By the end, the piano sounded great. Of course, as 
always, I told the customer that the pitch raise, being that for off, 
will hold for awhile. But because of the settleing it will have to do, 
it will need another couple of tunings before it stays. Also, 
suprisingly the pins were pretty snug - didn't find one sloppy pin - 
which I thought was amazing for it's age.

Duaine

Cy Shuster wrote:

>I'd like to know whether any pianos can't take the tension of A440 ("A435"
>cast into the plate is a good sign, I understand)...
>
>The complications I refer to are those during a pitch raise, where bringing
>strings up to tension affects the pitch of strings you've already tuned.
>Obviously you have to do two (or more) passes, but what's the best sequence
>to get to stability fastest?  (I should have looked in the archives first).
>
>--Cy--
>  
>
-- 

Duaine Hechler
Piano, Player Piano, Organ, Pump Organ
Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding
Associate Member of the Piano Technicians Guild
Reed Organ Society Member
St. Louis, MO 63034
(314) 838-5587
dahechler@charter.net