[pianotech] Fork and piano temp. and pitch

[John Formsma]

I myself have often wondered about that with respect to the older
generation of tuners who advocated putting the fork on the plate.

In theory, maybe it works a little to our advantage. But then again, how
long must the fork remain on the plate before it assumes the temperature of
the plate? Another way of asking: How can we be sure the fork has changed
enough to match the coming temperature change of the room?

And, the strings are affected by warm air currents much more quickly than
the plate will be.

What I do is estimate 4-6 cents of pitch change for every 10º F (at A4) and
adjust starting pitch accordingly. Naturally, it will be different for
different size pianos. So...if I come to a church piano and the room
temperature is 55ºF, I will certainly not tune the piano to A440. What I do
is listen to where the pitch is currently (in all sections), then make my
best judgment as to where the starting pitch needs to be. I might tune the
above piano to A442.5 if it's currently at A441.5. (Because the pitch drops
significantly in that part of the piano with the winters in my region. And
who knows if the church might have been colder than 55º that morning, and
then had warmed up prior to my arrival. Lots of variables.)

In some pianos--particularly larger grands--I'll tune the low tenor
slightly sharp because that section reacts more. At least it reacts more
immediately to air temperature. I have no clue what actually happens after
the entire piano acclimates to the air temperature change. With the one
Steinway D I take care of, I know what happens in that piano because I can
observe that piano more closely in a concert situation.

It's a guessing game. So far, I've either won, or nobody cares, or they've
called someone else. But no complaints. For whatever that's worth. ;-)

-- 
John Formsma, RPT
Blue Mountain, MS




On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 6:00 PM, Mark Schecter <mark at schecterpiano.com>wrote:

> I think this gets you a little closer than ignoring it, do you agree?  No,
> it's not perfect, nor do I know how to calibrate it against all the
> unknowable variables, but do you see anything wrong with the thinking, in
> principle?
>
> ~Mark Schecter
>
> On Feb 21, 2013, at 3:49 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:
>
> > On 2/21/2013 5:02 PM, Mark Schecter wrote:
> >
> >> So in effect, we're floating the pitch of the fork in accordance with
> >> the temperature of the piano, in the knowledge that temperature change
> >> will affect both similarly.
> >>
> >> This also has interesting implications for ETD users' choices about
> >> where to set pitch, as well.
> >
> > This has been pounded to DEATH dozens of times, and the bottom line is
> that you really can't realistically win, but you can surely do whatever it
> may be that gives you the illusion of control. As do we all.
> > Ron N
> >
>
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