[pianotech] beginner's calibration question

William Monroe bill at a440piano.net
Mon Dec 28 13:18:45 MST 2009


Zoe,

You must tune your tuning fork.  If the fork is flat, as in your case, you
must take a metal file and file the tines of the fork very slightly to
shorten them until it is vibrating at the proper frequency.  If the fork is
sharp, file the crotch of the fork to lengthen the tines.

It is important to take the preparation step of having the tuning fork at
the temperature that you intend to use it.  Different folks use different
methods.  Some leave the fork in their pocket for five minutes, some under
the arm, some lay it on the plate to let it achieve room temperature.  I
prefer some variant of the body temperature for calibration.  Whatever you
use, though, be consistent, both when you calibrate/tune your fork, and when
you tune the A (or C?) of the piano.  If your fork is too hot, it will be
flat, too cold, sharp.

Have fun!

William R. Monroe


On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Zoe Sandell <yiddishtangofever at shaw.ca>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have just completed calibrating my tuning device with NIST and the
> Tunelab
> demo-.  When I call back the C5 500Hz marks as in tune- ie squares stay
> still- but my tuning fork reads flat at A440
>
> How then do I accurately tune the temperament octave to the tuning fork-
> knowing this discrepancy?  Get a new/better tuning fork?
>
> Thanks
> Zoe
>
>
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