[pianotech] high and outside

[Ron Nossaman]

On 10/28/2012 9:31 AM, tunerboy3 at comcast.net wrote:
> Describe why it is then?
>
> Jerry Groot RPT
> www.grootpiano.com


Why what is, then? And if I spend the time, it'll be on the list instead 
of private.

I tune a community college where the RH goes from 25% to 75% between 
tunings. I find the bass very close to pitch, a half dozen at the low 
tenor 30¢ off, and the mid tenor on up to be off, naturally, but nowhere 
near even 1/4 semitone. Doing a pitch raise on a long neglected piano, I 
find that the piano has, as the strings slowly finish rendering through 
the bridge over a couple of weeks, dropped slightly and erratically in 
pitch. I have NEVER seen a piano raised in pitch, that was over a half 
semitone sharp over most of it 2-1/2 years later. Unless - it had been 
left ridiculously sharp when it was last tuned.
So no, this is neither expected, nor usual.
Ron N


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Nossaman
> To: tunerboy3 at comcast.net
> Sent: 2012-10-28 14:04:26 +0000
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] high and outside
>
> On 10/28/2012 8:54 AM, tunerboy3 at comcast.net wrote:
>> Here, in Michigan, we find pianos like that on a regular basis.  The
>> bass  changes the least, obviously, because the bass bridge is
>> located nearer to the bottom of the sound board than the tenor
>> section which is closer to center.
>>> We can tune a piano to A/440 in January, February with a low RH
>> reading, returning in August to October  with a doubled RH reading,
>> especially with the nutty weather we've had here over the past year
>> and then find it 1/4 tone sharp mostly in the tenor to mid treble
>> areas.
>>> Yes, we too, find tuners that do lousy workmanship such as you're
>> describing but, we also find pianos that go just plain nuts with the
>> major RH fluctuations too.
>
>
> I'm quite aware of how pianos go out of tune in wild humidity
> fluctuations, and what I described isn't it.
> Ron N
>