<div dir="ltr">I myself have often wondered about that with respect to the older generation of tuners who advocated putting the fork on the plate.<div><br></div><div style>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?</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>And, the strings are affected by warm air currents much more quickly than the plate will be.</div><div style><br></div><div style>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.)</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>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.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>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. ;-)</div><div style><br></div><div style>
-- <br><div>John Formsma, RPT<br></div><div>Blue Mountain, MS</div></div><div style><br></div><div style><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 6:00 PM, Mark Schecter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mark@schecterpiano.com" target="_blank">mark@schecterpiano.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">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?<br>
<span class=""><font color="#888888"><br>
~Mark Schecter<br>
</font></span><div class=""><div class="h5"><br>
On Feb 21, 2013, at 3:49 PM, Ron Nossaman <<a href="mailto:rnossaman@cox.net">rnossaman@cox.net</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> On 2/21/2013 5:02 PM, Mark Schecter wrote:<br>
><br>
>> So in effect, we're floating the pitch of the fork in accordance with<br>
>> the temperature of the piano, in the knowledge that temperature change<br>
>> will affect both similarly.<br>
>><br>
>> This also has interesting implications for ETD users' choices about<br>
>> where to set pitch, as well.<br>
><br>
> 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.<br>
> Ron N<br>
><br>
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