<!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 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Comments interspersed =
below:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> Interesting ideas that I hadn't
considered. Although I have <BR>> not encountered this kind of
difficulty with pitch <BR>> fluctuation on my own pianos, both new =
and
re-built (despite <BR>> living in Cleveland and now Illinois for =
quite a few
years <BR>> now), I can appreciate the perspective of technicians =
with
<BR>> more experienceand your experience dealing with fluctuating =
<BR>>
climates. I agree that in cases where pitch tends to <BR>> =
fluctuate in
a problematic way, stability would be a higher <BR>> priority than =
tuning to
A440. <BR>> <BR>> I've never really considered this, =
however...I
always <BR>> thought a piano was "in tune" if it was at 440 and the =
<BR>>
notion of "pitch correction" seems to be another way of <BR>> saying
"tuning." (I tend to think of the "pitch raise" as <BR>> the =
result of
years of failing to have the piano tuned, in <BR>> which case an =
extra charge
seems reasonable. I know I won't <BR>> get much support for =
this notion
on this list though:)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <BR>This gets back to the =
discussion on
whether it is appropriate to "punish" a piano owner for not tuning their =
piano
for years by charging for a pitch raise. I don't care if it has been 4 =
days or
40 years since the piano was last tuned to standard international pitch
- if the client wants the piano at A440 and it is 15 cents flat,
then they will be charged for a pitch raise if I am servicing their =
piano.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> <BR>> I would assume that =
pianos naturally
fall a bit flat over <BR>> time, but if they are really swinging this =
far
sharp during <BR>> the summers, then that's another matter =
altogether, I
<BR>> suppose. Based on your responses, I would modify my =
<BR>>
previous view that it is not ethical to leave a piano at <BR>> =
anything other
than A440, although I still hope this is the <BR>> norm in most
cases.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't agree with this exactly. IMHO, =
it is not
ethical to be dishonest with the piano owner. They need to
be educated about standard pitch, and how a piano's =
pitch can
fluctuate. If the client does not need A440 exactly (as is most =
often the
case), and floating the pitch will work for them, that can be a great =
way to
go. That is not unethical if the client know what you are doing and =
approves of it. If they need A440 exactly, then of course, A440 it will =
be - but
they will pay extra if a pitch adjustment is needed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My original post was about tuning =
pianos on a
cruise ship. I only have three or four hours to service eight pianos. My =
client
is well aware that he isn't going to get eight full tunings in that time =
and for
the fee we have agreed upon. He is aware that I float pitch between A440 =
and
A442. Of course, being that these pianos see a tuning lever every other =
week,
and the climate onboard the ship is quite stable, a typical tuning is =
much
closer to "some touchup" as opposed to a piano that sees a technician =
once per
year.</DIV>
<DIV><BR> <BR>> About my suggestion of pinblock wear, this was =
the only
<BR>> possible problem that I could think of with very frequent =
<BR>>
tunings, based on the loosness of some pins on concert <BR>> grands =
that I've
encountered, including my own CD. I would <BR>> assume that a
re-stringing would need to be done earlier on <BR>> these instruments =
that
have regularly been tuned weekly or <BR>> even daily, comparing with =
the
normal grand that gets 2-4 <BR>> tunings per year.<BR>> <BR>> =
Tim
<BR></DIV>
<DIV>Gee, I don't know that I have much expertise on all this, but when =
I tune a
piano once per year, some of the pins get turned some significant amount =
by me.
However, when tuning pianos every other week, it is difficult to =
describe the
infinitesimal amount that a typical tuning pin gets turned - it is very, =
very
small. Seems to me that a tuning pin/pinblock see about the same amount =
of total
pin movement whether the piano is tuned once per year or every other =
week. No
science here, just my observation and guessing.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Terry Farrell</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>