Of course pianos go out of tune, but all at once, many months later, not over time ...just like when you mow a lawn, it doesn't just start growing immediately, and slowly! It grows back, all at once, exactly 2 weeks later, under cover of darkness! If the tuning is solid, and there are no structural issues, or new strings...then the common reason: Humidity fluctuation! Humidity fluctuation! Humidity fluctuation! Humidity fluctuation! Humidity fluctuation! Humidity fluctuation! Terry Peterson Accurate Piano Service UniGeezer.com "Over 50, and not "2" Tired!" > From: da88ve at gmail.com > To: pianotech at ptg.org > Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:32:32 -0700 > Subject: Re: [pianotech] How long do unisons hold? > > No tuning is rock-solid, as much as the most confident of us > would like to think they are. Many recording studios tune once > a month. At many concerts, a tuner comes out during > intermission to touch-up unisons. I just now did a freebie > touch-up for a client whose piano I tuned a month ago. If she > just played Debussy all the time, it probably wouldn't have > needed it, but she plays rock, gospel, and jazz, and quite > forcefully, on a piano that has very hard hammers. But she > still wonders what's wrong with the piano when a few unisons > have drifted after a month. > I get the impression that the general piano-owning public > thinks a tuning should stay perfectly locked-in for about a > year. But they just don't. Yes, there are those old pianos > that stay almost rock-solid for 5 or 10 years, but they're > one-in-a-hundred. As previous PTG brochures on tuning have > pointed out, we're lucky pianos stay in tune as long as they do, > with their essentially 18th century technology, and their 12 to > 20 tons of tension on the plate and each string under 75 - 150 > lbs. of tension. Other (non-fixed pitch) instruments are tuned > about every time they're played. > I've often tuned pianos where, as I'm packing up my tools, > the customer tries a few notes, and I can hear a unison or two > that has already drifted. This is usually when a pitch raise > has just been carried out, but not always. I'm afraid stability > is an elusive goal, but we try our best. > --David Nereson, RPT > > > _________________________________________________________________ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469229/direct/01/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100309/856737cd/attachment.htm>
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