[pianotech] once a year school tunings (was: offsetting from A440)

[David Nereson]

 Wim--
    These are school pianos.  They don't want to tune the pianos 
more than once a year if they don't have to.  I have to leave 
them sharp at the end of August.  If I lower them to A440, they 
need a pitch raise in Oct. or Nov., and then the tuning isn't as 
stable.
    Yes, they're paying me to tune the pianos to standard pitch, 
but if they're going to tune them only once during the school 
year, they're going to have to put up with a) pianos that are 
sharp in the mid-range from August until the heating system 
comes on or b) pianos that are flat in the middle from about 
November thru the rest of the school year.
    Every year I explain (to the same teachers) about humidity 
changes and why you can't expect a piano tuning to last the 
whole school year unless the humidity is maintained at the same 
level, and every year it goes in one ear and out the other. 
They just refuse to believe it's humidity changes.  It must be 
the tuner's fault.  One teacher even refused to pay for a tuning 
in November because he believed I hadn't "done it right" back in 
August.
    --David Nereson, RPT