Pianotech

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed. 

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

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Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 1/12/2023 2:29:00 PM
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed. 

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

....."But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?"

Almost immediately.
If you put your finger on one or two strings at A4 for just a few seconds you will see how much that little bit will (temporarily) change the pitch.

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal RPT
Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7129
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:28
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed.

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

The more practical question is if you tune a piano completely at one temperature and then the whole piano changes temperature together how much does that usually affect the tuning? I've heard that the strings change temperature first but then the plate catches up which will compensate to a surprising degree sometimes.

For 20 years I've tuned a little piano at a Grange hall out on the countryside. One year it was about 50° in there and I could actually see my breath. Oddly, the piano was at pitch and the octave spread was surprisingly good. This was a Wurlitzer spinet. 

In his book under the lid, Steve Brady recommends not having the stage lights turned on right before a concert tuning because of the temperature change during the tuning. Either tune in the dark with a headlamp, or let the piano warm up for a few hours prior to tuning.


It's a bummer to have to reschedule a tuning and miss that income due to a situation as mentioned above. I'd be tempted to go ahead and service the piano perhaps focusing more on voicing or regulating instead of tuning. Then it would be interesting to follow up a few weeks after the heat is on and see what changed. There's nothing like seeing what happens in real life!

------------------------------
Ryan Sowers RPT
Olympia WA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:49
From: Steven Rosenthal
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

....."But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?"

Almost immediately.
If you put your finger on one or two strings at A4 for just a few seconds you will see how much that little bit will (temporarily) change the pitch.

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal RPT
Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7129

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:28
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed.

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

Ryan --

I didn't lose the income, I just moved it. The reason I rescheduled was to prevent the customer from being unhappy with me providing a tuning that didn't hold and the very real possibility of having to go back and do it a second time at no charge. On the other hand I do see the experimental value of being able to document the change in tuning from cold room to warm room.

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 15:27
From: Ryan Sowers
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

The more practical question is if you tune a piano completely at one temperature and then the whole piano changes temperature together how much does that usually affect the tuning? I've heard that the strings change temperature first but then the plate catches up which will compensate to a surprising degree sometimes.

For 20 years I've tuned a little piano at a Grange hall out on the countryside. One year it was about 50° in there and I could actually see my breath. Oddly, the piano was at pitch and the octave spread was surprisingly good. This was a Wurlitzer spinet.

In his book under the lid, Steve Brady recommends not having the stage lights turned on right before a concert tuning because of the temperature change during the tuning. Either tune in the dark with a headlamp, or let the piano warm up for a few hours prior to tuning.


It's a bummer to have to reschedule a tuning and miss that income due to a situation as mentioned above. I'd be tempted to go ahead and service the piano perhaps focusing more on voicing or regulating instead of tuning. Then it would be interesting to follow up a few weeks after the heat is on and see what changed. There's nothing like seeing what happens in real life!

------------------------------
Ryan Sowers RPT
Olympia WA

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:49
From: Steven Rosenthal
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

....."But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?"

Almost immediately.
If you put your finger on one or two strings at A4 for just a few seconds you will see how much that little bit will (temporarily) change the pitch.

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal RPT
Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7129

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:28
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed.

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

My experience has been that a 10 degree shift in room temperature will move the pitch up or down between 1.5 an 2 cents and it seems to be fairy uniform across the plain wires. Since I started using an ETD I seen muted plain wire on a grand move 2 cents within about 10 minutes after the AC kicked on in August in the Sacramento foothills.

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Tremaine Parsons RPT
Georgetown CA
(530) 333-9299
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 16:52
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

Ryan --

I didn't lose the income, I just moved it. The reason I rescheduled was to prevent the customer from being unhappy with me providing a tuning that didn't hold and the very real possibility of having to go back and do it a second time at no charge. On the other hand I do see the experimental value of being able to document the change in tuning from cold room to warm room.

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 15:27
From: Ryan Sowers
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

The more practical question is if you tune a piano completely at one temperature and then the whole piano changes temperature together how much does that usually affect the tuning? I've heard that the strings change temperature first but then the plate catches up which will compensate to a surprising degree sometimes.

For 20 years I've tuned a little piano at a Grange hall out on the countryside. One year it was about 50° in there and I could actually see my breath. Oddly, the piano was at pitch and the octave spread was surprisingly good. This was a Wurlitzer spinet.

In his book under the lid, Steve Brady recommends not having the stage lights turned on right before a concert tuning because of the temperature change during the tuning. Either tune in the dark with a headlamp, or let the piano warm up for a few hours prior to tuning.


It's a bummer to have to reschedule a tuning and miss that income due to a situation as mentioned above. I'd be tempted to go ahead and service the piano perhaps focusing more on voicing or regulating instead of tuning. Then it would be interesting to follow up a few weeks after the heat is on and see what changed. There's nothing like seeing what happens in real life!

------------------------------
Ryan Sowers RPT
Olympia WA

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:49
From: Steven Rosenthal
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

....."But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?"

Almost immediately.
If you put your finger on one or two strings at A4 for just a few seconds you will see how much that little bit will (temporarily) change the pitch.

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal RPT
Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7129

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:28
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed.

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------

The effects are significant. Just run your finger on a string back and forth a few times and the heat generated by that will move the pitch. When it cools, however, it goes back to where it was pretty quickly. 

In this case I would reschedule. 

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-12-2023 14:28
From: Geoff Sykes
Subject: Temperature vs humidity question

My first customer this morning contacted me to suggest I wear a sweater and warm socks because her heating system had been down for the last 10 days. She has a couple of space heaters but she said the house was very cold. Fearing that if I were to tune her piano today it would go out again as soon as her heating was repaired, sometime next week, we rescheduled for several days after she expects the work to be completed.

We all know how quickly changes in relative humidity can affect tuning. Wood is pretty good at changing shape when absorbing and dissipating moisture. But how much does a change of temperature affect strings and plate and it's affect on tuning?

------------------------------
Geoff Sykes, RPT
Los Angeles CA
------------------------------