[pianotech] Was high and outside now silent pitch lowering

[tnrwim at aol.com]

Tom

Pitch lowering should be treated the same as a pitch raising. You're method, to me, does not sound efficient. The idea is to gel the piano stable at pitch, (440). If some strings are not pulled to as close to where they are supposed to be, then that would lead to instability. 

I don't use a strip mute anymore, for pitch raising or final tuning. I use a SAT, and offset it to 25% over what it's flat. (I very seldom have a pitch lowering situation here in Hawaii). Using rubber and/or felt mutes, I tune one string to the SAT and tune the other string(s) aurally. On a pr I try to get close, but I don't spend the time listening to beats between unisons. It takes me about 10 - 15 minutes to do a pr. I am then ready to do a regular tuning, which takes about 30 minutes*. Although on an instrument like a choir room piano, I might spend another 10 - 15 minutes to do a fine tuning. 

For "normal" pianos that need a pr, I don't spend extra time doing a fine tuning. The customer most likely won't hear the difference between my fine tuning and what the SAT gives, but I do highly recommend that I visit the piano again in 6 months.

Just my take on, it, Tom

Wim

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Driscoll <tomtuner at verizon.net>
To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sun, Oct 28, 2012 3:21 pm
Subject: [pianotech] Was high and outside now silent pitch lowering


 
List,
    This thread has prompted me to bring up a pitch lowering method I've been fooling around with the past few years.(especially when under  time constraints )
    Case in point last week :   Steinway L from the 50's in a high school chorus room here in Massachusetts.(no climate control)
   With the last tuning in April the piano was @ pitch.The high humidity of our New England summer drives this thing to as much as 30 -40 cents 
sharp from the tenor break on up. Bass maybe 5-10 cents sharp.
   Now this is not a concert situation but getting the thing down to 440 with reasonable stability is the goal. I'll be back in a few months to retune .
Using my accu-tuner I pulled down the middle string of all the C's to around  - 8 c flat or so and use muscle memory to feel the pin movement with amount  of  "tick " required
in each section. 
   Then without playing the notes I have one hand on the tuning lever head and one on the ball end of the Driscoll CF Tuning Lever (sorry ) and move really fast from pin to pin trying to replicate the pin movement from the samples
The exact order probably doesn't matter but from the break on up I lower the middle string then the right string from the top down then the left string from the top down.
The whole operation takes about  5-7 minutes. 
   There are certainly some strings that are way off but the thing is reasonably chromatic and around pitch. After a  quick pull down on the bass 
 I then strip mute the entire piano and speed tune the middle strings with the ETD.  Then tune the right string to the center from the top removing the strip as I go then left string 
to the other two from the top down  (A spin on the 1970's Coleman-Defebaugh P.R. method) then another quick pass in the bass .
  The whole process takes 20 - 30 minutes tops. 
I then tune as per usual technique and I seem to have fewer strings creeping  sharp given the time spent on the pitch lowering.
 I think a version of this was mentioned in the journal way back when.
    I only do this a few times a year so without much science behind me I'm thinking that the double pass in such a short time creates better stability .
 
Thoughts ?
 Tom Driscoll
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
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