[pianotech] Pitch Raising

[Gerald Groot]

Good ideas from William and David.  I would suggest the same thing along
with being very careful when using the CLP.  Don't douse it.  Have a cloth
handy to catch any wandering CLP.  You don't want it to make contact with
the wrappings  on the bass wires if too much happens to be put on.  

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Matthew Todd
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 10:32 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Pitch Raising

 


Good morning everyone,

 

Whenever I came across an old upright or grand that needed a pitch raise
with rusted strings/pins, etc, I would alway notify the client before I
began that there's a chance that a string or two may break during the pitch
raise process.  However, recently, I had several treble strings break on a
Kimball console, several treble strings break on a Schimmel grand, and a
bass string on a Baldwin, and several more treble strings on a spinet.  I
say this because each of those pianos I just listed showed no signs of
string breakage, before I began.  I guess I was a little surprised.  Anyway,
after those experiences, I now make it a point everytime I encounter a pitch
raise, regardless of the piano, to let the customer know before I begin that
a string or two might break.  I also briefly explain to them why it could
happen, along with the pitch raising process.  Now, when I am the phone with
the client before I schedule the appointment, I let them know about a
possible pitch raise, but I don't let them know about possible string
breakage until I see them face to face.  That's just me.  I always feel
better when I let them before I begin, rather than not, and then a string
does break, and then you may be left with some explaining.

 

When I pitch raise, I do the bass first.  I just do mainly cause an RPT told
me that your tuning will be more stable doing the bass first.  I have never
personally tested this myself.  After the bass, what I used to do was then
proceed pitch raising one string out of each note all the way up the piano,
then on the way down, do the unisons.  However, the last few weeks I have
tried something different.  Instead of pitch raising one string all the way
to the top, I did this:  After I pitch raised the bass, I then focused on
each individual section, i.e., I would pitch raise one string in the entire
tenor section, then go back and pitch raise the unisons in that section.
Then do the same thing in the treble, and finally, the extreme treble.  I
don't know if it is just me, but I found when I finished the pitch raise
with that method, the pitch was much closer and more stable than how I did
the pitch raise before.

 

Comments anyone?

 

Matthew

 



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