[pianotech] Pitch Change (was: Grey market pianos, seasoned pianos, etc.)

Ryan Sowers tunerryan at gmail.com
Sat Apr 3 23:09:05 MDT 2010


It sure looks like the sun is going around the earth too, and people had a
hard time wrapping their brains around the fact that the opposite is true. I
really think the rising/falling soundboard theory (RFST?) fits in the same
category. Actually, geocentrism actually makes more sense because the theory
at least seems to fit our direct observation. Nobody really observes the
soundboard rising and falling. Maybe because we know there is supposed to be
crown in a soundboard and the tuning drifts in a crown like pattern in
response to humidity change makes the RFST make sense.

It appears that the more scientifically minded of our little forum are ready
to dismiss the RFST as being basically insignificant. I think the case has
been pretty well made.

I think we can tell our clients that "Humidity changes cause swelling or
shrinking of the wooden structure of the piano and this effects the tuning
of the strings. Unfortunately it doesn't happen in a uniform matter and
these changes cause the piano to sound out of tune". Quite frankly, even
when I did subscribe to the RFST I seriously doubt if clients had any idea
what I was talking about. Most of them really have no idea what the
soundboard is anyways! (I love it when a client brags about there cast iron
sounding board!)

On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 8:07 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:

> Denise Rachel wrote:
>
>> Hi Jer,
>>
>> I am prone to stick with what I was taught, too.  But  . .
>> .  the lowest string on the treble bridge has the greatest
>> seasonal pitch alteration.  And  . . . . . .  on many
>> pianos the distance from bridge pin to rim is equal to or
>> very close to the same measurement on the top string of the
>> bass bridge.  This one small observation has for decades
>> bothered me because it shoots a hole in my reasoning.
>>
>
> That's because the proximity to the rim isn't the deciding factor. It's the
> break%. When the presumption doesn't fit the observation, it's time to
> reevaluate and revise both.
> Ron N
>



-- 
Ryan Sowers, RPT
Puget Sound Chapter
Olympia, WA
www.pianova.net
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