I have noticed in the last several weeks many articles on piano
tuning.  So, I add my comments.  I am not a professional piano tuner;
however, I have worked in the shop rebuilding grand pianos.  My tuning
has been in the installing of new strings and chipping and establishing
the scale.  We did this by using a Conn Strobe tuner.

The tuner had a piano tuning school and was a member of the PTG.  He
attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and was a tuner for a
concert pianist for several years.  The tuner used the third interval
method of tuning.

One of the things that makes the strings not want to move is the string
has taken a set on the wrest plank.  So, have you ever experienced when
raising the note to desired pitch nothing changes?

One way is to lower the pitch, if you hear a change.  Then tune the
note to the desired pitch.  Most likely the note will go out of tune.
Why?  Because the curve in the string has not straightened.  The reason
the tuner hits the key with a lot of force is to break loose the
string.  Some tuners will bring the note above pitch and then, without
turning the pin, will pull the tuning hammer down.

That's why you cannot bring a piano up to pitch which is several cents
lower.  A piano that is tuned regularly and kept to pitch will not have
this problem as much.  That why in the factory the piano is tuned to a
lower pitch and then about week later the pitch is raised.  It's all
about the metallurgy of the wire.  There is no perfect piano; only the
higher grade pianos will be close.  So a tuner who has some musical
knowledge will make some correction, like maybe a little sharper or a
little flatter, to correct the flaw in the scale.

Electronic chromatic tuners: A piano is systematically put out of tune,
some say.  If you had some schooling in physics of string you have a
better understanding of why a piano is tuned to the equal temperament
scale.  The electronic tuners are very good and do a good job. However,
in the concert hall you don't see all electronic chromatic tuners
listening to the music, only humans!

I have a copy of a "Treatise of the Art of Pianoforte Construction,"
by S. Wolfenden of the Weber Piano Co., 1916, London.  There's enough
technical information in this book to build a piano as well as history
of materials.  I also have some Acoustical Journal articles on piano
strings.  Stay tuned in for another article.

S. Lee Walker