extreme winter weather/DC effectiveness

[Will Wickham]

Hi Barbara,

Pretty cold in my part of the great northeast as well!

I tune for a small country church with a 3 year old small Yamaha  
grand with severe winter dryness trouble as well as very high summer  
humidity.  Didn't need a hygrometer for diagnosis of the dryness as  
there is a lecturn right next to the piano that is quite solid in the  
summer and quite see-through in the winter. After trying the first  
year of the new piano sans DC unit I managed to convince them that to  
have any hope of stability they needed the DC system with undercover  
and string cover.

Two years later we are tuning the piano 2X each year - just before  
Easter and either the beginning of Choir season or just before  
Christmas (depending on when the choir director thinks of it).

I still notice that the piano is most out of tune in the first two  
octaves of the non-wound strings but instead of being 10-30 cents  
flat or sharp (depending on the season) now it's closer to 5-10 cents  
on the worst strings.

In my opinion the undercover and string cover were essential in this  
instance and would most likely help in your situation. I would also  
urge consideration for a second humidifier tank for an A. It would  
definitely help out on the coldest (and dryest) days!

will
no longer completely snow bound in upstate NY

On Feb 16, 2007, at 10:47 PM, Barbara Richmond wrote:

> Howdy,
>
> Hope you're all nice and cozy, it's been dang cold here.  I've got  
> a question for you DC experts, I would have called DC themselves,  
> but I didn't get home in time this afternoon.
>
> Early this past fall I regulated a 1920s S&S A and installed a full  
> DC system--but no undercover.  The piano is kept closed and covered  
> when not in use.  The church has AC, though to me it felt humid   
> (for some reason I didn't have my hygrometer with me).   Anyway,  
> before Christmas I tuned the piano again and it was 17 cents low.    
> Today I tuned it again and it was 14 cents low. Yikes.  The weather  
> here lately has been extremely cold (OK, you nanooks of the north  
> can laugh) and the church was incredibly dry--it didn't register on  
> my not very good hygrometer.  A couple weeks ago, the music  
> director called to tell me that tuning pins were slipping like  
> crazy on the harpsichord I worked on last December.  I thought  
> today that the tuning pins on the piano felt looser than in the  
> past (or was it my imagination?).  AND I noticed that the  
> regulation was off, too.  Geeze.  Apparently the heat is always on  
> in the church--not one of those where it gets turned off and on,  
> and it has felt warm to me the times I've been in there.
>
> So...you get the picture that the place is dry.  Here is the  
> question--how good a job should the DC system be doing in these  
> circumstances?  Is anybody else experiencing this?  The music  
> director said he is filling the DC tank at least once a week.  I  
> even took a look to see if I had plugged things in the wrong  
> place.  Is there anything else I can do, besides put an undercover  
> on?  Can undercovers make a huge difference in a situation where  
> there isn't significant air movement, etc?
>
> I thought about recommending that the church look into a big April- 
> Aire system.
>
> Any suggestions are welcome.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Barbara Richmond, RPT
> near Peoria, Illinois
>

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