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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I don't think folks should be so hesitant to =
raise the
pitch of an old neglected upright up to A440. I do dozens of 50 to 200 =
cent
pitch raises on 80+ year old uprights each year. I don't leave but one =
or two a
year below A440. I'd guess that even on the big pitch raises, 90% of the =
time I
have no broken strings. On the older pianos, I try to never exceed =
pulling a
string more than 10 or 15 cents sharp during the pitch raise - if the =
piano is
more than 40 or 50 cents flat, it will get two pitch raise passes - =
first one
targeting A440, and the second with whatever overpull is needed. Often =
you need
to do one extra pass in the treble to minimize overpull in that =
area - the
high treble is where you will often find strings breaking.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>One time in my shop I just wanted to see how =
much you
could pull a string sharp before it broke. The piano was a 100 year old =
Everett
grand. The strings were quite rusty - about as bad as you commonly see - =
the
whole piano was unplayable - totally trashed. I tried about a dozen =
strings. All
strings went more than 200 cents sharp before breaking! Some broke =
between 300
and 400 cents sharp.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I'm not trying to suggest that means we can =
safely
overpull 200 cents, but rather that a string in decent shape can usually =
stand a
little strain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>A440 or bust! (Or not.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Piannaman@aol.com
href="mailto:Piannaman@aol.com">Piannaman@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 23, 2004 =
12:09
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Kranich Bach =
ache(pitch raise on
a century old piano)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2 PTSIZE="10">List, =
<BR><BR>I got
lucky today, I guess. No broken strings. <BR><BR>When I arrived =
at the
elementary school where my day's most interesting tuning was to take =
place, I
found a really beautiful, monstrously large Kranich and Bach upright, =
circa
1903. It had beautifully maintained flame mahagony case. =
Expected to be
a rehearsal piano for the California Youth Symphony, it rested in the
multi-purpose room of the school, 15-20 cents flat in the bass, 20-30 =
cents in
the mid, and 25-45 cents flat in the high
treble. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2
PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2
PTSIZE="10">SNIP <BR></DIV></FONT></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2 PTSIZE="10">The =
false beats in
the upper end were a bit gnarly, but the piano ended up at A440. =
The
tone was rich and warm in a way that is unique to old uprights. =
<BR><BR>Ahhh,
the day went remarkably better after that was done. <BR><BR>Dave Stahl =
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