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<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>Yes. <BR><BR>David=
Ilvedson<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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Original message<BR>From: Robert Finley <RFINLEY@RCN.COM><BR>To:=
<PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG><BR>Received: Mon, 4 Jul 2005 13:26:19=
-0400<BR>Subject: Tuning Stabilty Question<BR><BR>
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<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would like to ask your=
opinion about piano tuning stability. Last weekend we finished=
our international piano competition in Boston. It began on=
Wednesday June 22nd. I was the director of the competition and=
had a lot of administrative work to do.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A couple of weekends before the=
competition I made several visits to the college and tuned four=
of the practice pianos, because last time in 2003 they were=
badly out of tune. They hadn't been tuned since January, the=
beginning of the semester, and I thought I would save our=
organization some money. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The pianos were very old (looked as=
if they were from the early 1900s), and consisted of two=
Steinway Bs, a Steinway A, and a Baldwin Hamilton=
Studio console. They didn't seem to have been looked=
after very well. There were paper clips, pins, dust and=
other debris inside. Some of the tuning pins were rather loose.=
The music stand on a Steinway B was broken and in terrible=
shape. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I used the SAT III to to tune=
them. I applied strong blows to equalize the tension in the=
strings, and lighter listening blows to check the resultant=
tuning. When I finished each piano, there was a very big=
improvement, and I could have given a recital on each of=
them. The notes had a bell like clarity, although the tone=
of the Baldwin upright was rather mediocre. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>During the competition, the=
practice pianos were in use from 8 am until 11 pm each=
day by contestants. They practiced such things as the Prokofiev=
Toccata, Rachmaninoff Etudes, Liszt etc, and they began to go=
out of tune. The air conditioning in the building cycled on and=
off during the night and day. They were in quite out of=
tune by the end of the competition. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My question is, would you typically=
expect pianos to go out of tune under these circumstances or=
should they have held their tuning better? I know it is=
difficult to say without seeing the pianos, but I just wondered=
what your opinion might be. I'm not sure what else I could=
have done to make the pianos hold their tuning longer. I=
couldn't go in to re-tune them because they were constantly in=
use by the contestants from morning to late at night. I was also=
overloaded with work, running the competition, so I wouldn't=
have had the time anyway. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for your thoughts and a happy=
July 4th. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robert=
Finley</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>