And doesn't that happen all too often... Went recently to tune two church pianos in a very remote area following an ice storm-regular customers. Spoke to the church musician about the temperature factor as the church is normally kept at just warm enough to keep from having frozen pipes. She made a trip in the morning prior to my arrival and set the thermostat at 70 degrees and left a note on it to please leave it there so that the pianos would sound decent for church next day. Since I had other stops along the route, I arrived apx. 4:30 p.m. expecting to have a comfortable tuning environment. Instead the temp. was 50 degrees. The custodian was there, but did not have a key to the thermostat. I tuned with my coat on -cold anyway and notified the pianist that the temp. had been reset after she left. Frustrating all around. Now if I tuned in 70 degrees and they reduce the heat throughout the week to 50 degrees- raising it to 70 on Sunday, how stable can one expect the tuning to be. Sorry -preaching to the choir. Fran Helms, Topeka,KS >>> J Patrick Draine <draine@comcast.net> 2/16/2005 6:06:50 PM >>> I can't speak for Reading PA but January 2004 was extremely dry, and if I had set a stable piano to A440 back then it would be sharp at the current RH level (it's raining buckets right now, and was warm for a couple days). And don't forget the impact that room temperature has on pitch. Perhaps the heat was set lower for your recent visit, but you tuned it on a day when the heat had been set at a comfortable level. It's not uncommon for me to arrive at a church to find the temperature in the mid 50s -- if I tune it to A440 it will be flat Sunday morning when the church has been warmed up for the congregation's comfort. patrick draine On Feb 16, 2005, at 4:27 PM, Alpha88x@aol.com wrote: > Greetings, > > In Feb '04 I tuned two church pianos that were below > pitch. They were down at about A430 or less. After I was done they > were A440. I did pitch raises. This year, I went back and found that > both pianos were about 10 cycles sharp...and this is February...the > heat has been on for 4+ months the things should be flat, if anything, > right? But nooo.... they're sharp. > > On the first piano, (a Kawaii studio upright) I > thought: "Ok this is in a basement (choir rehearsal room) and it could > be that moisture absorbed into the thing and so it's sharp". However, > when I got upstairs to the sanctuary ( a Steinway console) piano, its > even sharper(!) (about 3 cycles sharper than the one in the basement) > and a little business card of another tuner is in there; a date on it > reads: > 8-9-04 A440...along with a list of other dates that indicated that > they were tuned twice a year by this tuner. (That card with dates was > in there last February too). > > I am a stickler for A440 so today I took each of the > pianos and made them A4440 again. My question is: WHY? Why were these > pianos so ***@#$*#$%^% sharp!!!?? > Could it be that the other tuner turned them up in August 04 after I > was there in Feb '04? The story was when I was called in that were > tuned regularly by this other tuner, (the card indicated such) Yet, > the pianos were so flat when I was called in, in Feb '04 that I had to > pull them both up....what gives???? > > > Julia Gottchall. > Reading, PA >
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