Diary of a mad pitch raise

[David Ilvedson]

Hey now....
I think the most effective way for pitch raising is tuning the the unisons as you go.   All strings in the unison are at the same pitch and react somewhat together, rather than coming back 10 minutes later and tuning the outside strings to the now lower middle string, ala strip muting.   I also have finally been trying out the pitch raising program in my SATIII.   If I carefully tune the unisons as I would on an ordinary tuning, I can come back and just touch up the unisons for a "fairly decent" tuning.   Really only applicable in a school situation...I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it that way with a private customer.   It is hard to get that stable unison when making a large tension change on the pitch raise pass...much different than fine tuning...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA 94044





Original message
From: "Steve Blasyak" 
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 1/5/2007 8:12:33 PM
Subject: Diary of a mad pitch raise


Diary of a mad pitch raise
 
 
10:12 AM, start pitch raise procedure. More than just a little flat (25 to 30+ cents).
 
10:14 AM, Ugggg!!!! adjust artist piano bench to fit my long too skinny legs under key bed.
 
10:16 AM, dough!!! again...forgot to put in my musicians ear plugs for pitch raise.
 
10:18 AM, Daughter of client hands me the phone. Mom/client is on the phone. I explain I have to charge a bit more for the tune of her recently purchased Kawai RX 1 as it is a bit flat. "Reeeeal nice piano though, much better than the Shreman Clay console they had the last time I was here in 03. Please call me sooner for the next tuning though. Yes I'll send you a card." 
 
10:20 AM, Resume tuning at a too fast too furious pace.
 
10:36 AM, Complete the pitch raise process in 24 minutes. 
 
Commentary:
 
With a few minor interruptions I was able to complete a pitch raise in 22 minutes (including a two minute phone call). This was without double muting or using any other of the speed methods mentioned in the recent thread on speed pitch raising.
 
Now I'm not knocking any of these methods as I have not had the chance to try them as of yet. However I do agree with a post by Alan that the double mute strip system seems to be limited to grands only. You could not use two mute strips in most console pianos by my estimate, well at least not for more that a couple of octaves. Even the larger uprights I would think it would be limited to the third and fourth octaves as the mute would start interfering with the hammers somewhere prior to the treble break. How exactly would you use two mute strips in the high treble of a console or spinet? Not sure if that was explained. Not to mention the bi cords. No advantage gained there, or is there?
 
In short I was not as happy with the results of my 22 minute pitch raise as I am when I take just a few extra minutes. As I said in the original post that started the thread. I do have a different philosophy when it comes to pitch raises. My goal is to equalize and stabilize the tension of the piano. My belief is if you increase the pressure on the bridge and sound board from the bottom up like a wave. Tuning strings adjacent to one another on the bridge were the tension of the string has the most effect on its neighbors. Increasing down bearing on the sound board in equal increments. If I understand the two strip method correctly it seems to me you are changing the tension on strings and down bearing on the bridge and leaving gaps to go back and do again. After the first pass of the section doing left string right string, you double back and do the other side. Sort of a hop scotch method.This may be faster but is it as effective?
 
Just to be clear the diary of a mad pitch raise, the mad part is not mad angry. More like mad scientist type mad.
 
 After one of my post about the time it takes to (fill in the blank) and commenting on the 20 minute pitch raise, it seemed to start a barrage of posts on speed tuning and or pitch raising.
 
 I'm always open to new ideas. I'm just trying to present a few of my own for the mix.
 
Thanks for all the advise.
 
Steve
 
Pura Vida
 
 
 
Steve Blasyak
atuneforyou at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
 
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