<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4616.200" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Last summer while touring Europe with = Ryuichi Sakamoto, we used two CF-IIIs (one a Disklavier Pro). In Italy, where we = spent three weeks, most of the concerts were out doors in a piazza or some = historic castle etc. None of these venues had a roof or even a tent top. I was = forced to build some sort of shade for the pianos every day. Cafe umbrellas = worked pretty well! Even so, the ambient temperature was always around 90F +. = Then, of course, the sun went down and the temp dropped a good fifteen degrees or = so before show time. I was constantly chasing the tuning. I tried = Dampp-Chasers but they didn't really help much with any wind blowing at all. Anyway it = wasn't so much a humidity problem (although it was quite humid - 80% +) as the = temperature change. Tuning the piano in the morning was really just an academic = excersise! Try to tune as close to the performance as possible.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I love to attend open air concerts in = the summer time but it's not really the proper environment for any musical = instrument much less a piano. I believe the artists understand this but try to convince = the promoters, stage managers, etc..</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Phil Romano</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Myrtle Beach, SC</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=wilson53@Marshall.edu = href="mailto:wilson53@Marshall.edu">Wilsons</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> Monday, August 20, 2001 = 6:43 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Hot and Heavy [ON Topic]</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>Every year, the WV Symphony treks up to Snowshoe for an = outdoor concert.  There's a circus tent - huge - that seats about 1,000 = plus the symphony, up on a stage.  The first time they took the piano, we discovered that there are wild swings in humidity:  fog rolling = in at night, even penetrating into the enclosed tent, and burning off = anywhere from 8 am to noon or so.  Totally unpredictable.  The first year, = since we were 5 hours from home, the grounds & stage people scrounged up = an array of lights, which we placed under the piano, which was then = covered w moving blankets which draped to the floor.  In subsequent years, = the symphony has used dampp chaser dehumidifying rods which they purchased = through me.  We use about 5 rods and 2 humidistats.  What a difference!  <BR><BR>Wally Wilson, RPT<BR><BR>At 08:31 PM 8/19/01 = -0500, you wrote: <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE cite type="cite">Hi Z!,<BR>         Both of our = concert grands have to the floor fitted tarps, that are heavily = quilted,  it helps quite a bit.  But there is no real way to over come those = concerts in the park, stability type things.   Minimizing = is the best you can hope for.  Besides the heavy tarp, laying two = moving blankets on the strings inside the piano seems to help.  But I = may be fooling myself on that one.<BR>Insulate and protect, in the best way = possible.<BR>Regards Roger.<BR><BR><BR><BR>At 07:07 PM 8/19/01 = -0400, you wrote: <BR><FONT face=arial size=2> <BLOCKQUOTE cite type="cite">Hi Everyone!</FONT><BR><BR>How hot = can a piano get before you run into more serious problems than changes = in the tuning?  What are some of the problems people have observed = after a piano got hot?<BR><BR>Over the summer I tuned at a couple of = festivals on what were otherwise beautiful summer days here in Detroit but must = have been nightmares for the pianos.  As usual, I was asked to = tune first thing in the morning despite the stage manager's full knowledge = that the tuning will be seriously "altered" by the time the featured artist = was going to play.  Over the course of all the set changes, the = pianos were often relegated to some out-of-the-way corner of the stage = where they sat out in full sunlight, often wearing black naugahyde = covers.  Those pianos were probably hot enough to roast a fat steak by the = time I came back to them to "touch them up" just before the = performances.  (The stage managers have been told repeatedly not to leave the = pianos out in full sunlight for any length of time ....)<BR><BR>Since then, = those pianos have been doing one-night stands all over metro Detroit and = I haven't crossed paths with any of them yet since their sunbathing sessions.  Nor have I heard any comments from the other = technicians who have serviced them since then.  Meanwhile I came to yet = another concert rental recently which had numerous loose lead weights in = the damper system, and I'm wondering if that one also got a good = "sunburn" at some point over the summer.<BR><BR>Thanks in advance --<BR><BR>Z! Reinhardt  RPT<BR>Ann Arbor  MI<BR><A = href="mailto:diskladame@provide.net">diskladame@provide.net</A></BLOCKQ= UOTE><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>