Has anyone come across a Kohler & Campbell cracked plate?
I stopped by to see a client this morning to check out their 1980 Kohler & Campbell piano.
The client told me that the previous owner had the piano tuned two years ago.
Interesting considering that the Bass was right on pitch up to C3. Strangely, the Bass wires from C#3 to F#3 including the plain wires up to 88 were evenly flat from -20 cents to -15 cents. What happened?
The piano appears to have a structural problem. I couldn't find any cracks in the plate.
Most of the pianos I've encountered so far, in the summer, have been sharp, throughout, because of the humidity.
I had another Kohler & Campbell about a year ago, that was quite flat. I advised the customer that I would start with what I call a diagnostic pitch raise up to A 435 to prevent any wire breakage but to see if there are any structural problems while being on the safe side.
Everything was fine until I got up to the 5th octave - POW!!! - The customer asked me what happened. I couldn't see any problems in the plate, but the tuning sounded horrible. It was taken to the dump the next day.
Paul.
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Paul Brown, RPT
Past President
Piano Technicians Guild
Vancouver, BC Canada
Email:
ipp@ptg.org------------------------------