Fork accuracy

[Dave Nereson]

> Hi David,
>
> How do you choose where to "float the pitch"? If at A4 then 4 beats would
> be =~ 15 cents. If this "floating" is made necessary by humidity change,
> then the piano is very likely still going to be unstable to some degree as
> other areas of the instrument will be "out" by at least double your
> "float

    Oh, it depends -- if it's an elementary school that doesn't use the 
piano much, or even in a jr. high or high school where the piano is more for 
vocals or accompanying solos, rather than actually being played with the 
orchestra or band, and there's no need for it to be exactly on 440, I'll 
tune it at a pitch level that requires the least alteration of the piano's 
string tensions.  I figure, the less I alter things, the more stable it'll 
be.
    The whole piano doesn't go sharp by the same amount.  It's usually just 
the top few bass strings and from the bass/treble break up to the C5, G5 
area.  If the low tenor (invariably the section that has gone the sharpest) 
is sharp by 7 beats, or 25 cents, or whatever, I'll lower it to match the 
bass and octaves 5 and 6, which aren't quite as sharp.  I try to avoid 
having to pull the bass strings even the smallest amount sharp, since on 
those old 50's and 60's studio uprights, they're already on the verge of 
breaking, and in many pianos, already have spliced strings and several 
universal string replacements (custom strings are not in the budget).
    In some cases, if it has gone 20 cents sharp or more during the summer, 
I'll lower pitch in September, especially in a band room, since the wind 
instruments' tuning slides, or crooks, even when shoved all the way in, 
can't make the instruments sharp enough to match the piano.  But I know if I 
lower the piano all the way down to 440, then after the heat's been on for 
several weeks, it'll drop below 440 and will need a pitch raise before the 
Christmas concert.  Better to be a little sharp for a month or two.
    Usually the pianos are not flat since they get tuned for a Christmas 
concert or other recital during the school year.
    There are of course exceptions, like if the jazz band uses vibes and 
piano, the vibraphone of course can't be tuned (easily), so I'll tune to 
A=440.
    And in churches where they actually play the piano and organ together, 
I'll tune it to the organ, but even there, a beat or two difference, even 
three, is tolerable to most people -- it's either that or tune the piano at 
least twice a year, and most churches don't want to fork out the money for 
that.
    I find that it's almost impossible to get a school (I'm talking public 
schools, not universities) to use a Dampp-Chaser system correctly and/or 
effectively since:  they're always moving the piano from the music room to 
the stage and back, or moving it around the room, or the janitor unplugs it 
to vacuum and forgets to plug it back in, or the kids unplug it, vandalize 
it, or it gets unplugged over the summer 'cause they had to move it to do 
the floors, or they skip a year on the tuning and the humidifier pads get 
all crusty and it runs out of water, or somebody trips on the cord and yanks 
the humidistat loose, spills the water all over the bottom board, or "they 
just forgot" (to fill it), or lost the watering can, or the stage crew 
borrowed the extension cord, or they "didn't know pianos had to be plugged 
in," etc. etc. etc.
    And in homes, exact A=440 isn't absolutely necessary unless you've got 
music-major types, so-called "perfect pitch"-types, people playing duets 
with fixed-pitch instruments, etc., but probably in 29 cases out of 30, if 
the piano is even as much as 25 cents off, nobody notices or cares. 
However, I do tell them what the standard is, and that the tone is probably 
best at A=440, since that's where the tension was engineered to be.  Now, if 
it's a quarter-step flat or something, I insist on raising pitch of course, 
because it might interfere with good pitch memory if it's that far off.
        --David Nereson, RPT