•Regards an orchestrion containing piano and other instruments, I would imagine that you tune the piano to any fixed pitched instrument which forms a part of the orchestrion, e.g., xylophone, organ pipes, etc. The important thing is, the orchestrion is in tune with itself. The actual pitch of any mu...

•An add-on question. I had once heard that someone tuned a Mills Violano-Virtuoso to A-440 causing the plate to crack and break, because the instrument us designed to be tuned at international pitch of A-435. Is any of this true? I have harbored this question for years only remembering it when there...

•[ Timothy L'Amoureux wrote in 130401 MMDigest: > I had once heard that someone tuned a Mills Violano-Virtuoso to > A-440 causing the plate to crack and break, because the instrument > was designed to be tuned at international pitch of A-435. Is any > of this true? I doubt it. When piano makers swit...

•Hi, Robbie, To end all confusion I attach a picture of a tuning fork from the 1920s stamped "C 523.3"; this corresponds to A=440 Hz. The fork then states "Official Pitch of A. F. of M. 1917". Then, "Adopted by U. S. Gov't 1920". Most coin piano and orchestrion builders continued to pitch their inst...

•When I asked about the tuning pitch for our Coinola K everyone agreed it should be tuned to A=435 Hz and that turned out to be correct. In side comments, I was told all nickelodeons of the 1920s would be A=435 except for Nelson-Wiggen who tuned to A=440 Hz. We now are into our Western Electric Styl...

•[ Ref. 170406 MMD, History of U.S. Standard Pitch, A = 440 Hz The US adopted a foreign pitch standard: International Concert Pitch. http://webstore.ansi.org/RecordDetail.aspx?sku=DIN+1317-1%3A1957 DIN 1317-1:1957 Standard Tuning; Standard Musical Pitch (FOREIGN STANDARD) https://www.iso.org/standar...

•I recently came across reference to something called "chaser's pitch". It is apparently a self-made concoction which is thixotropic. If you contain it somehow with the intended escutcheon plate as one surface of the container, you can form the metal by hitting with a punch and hammer. Under the blo...

•Couldn't resist passing on this story from Usenet/rec.music.makers.piano:- Dan Wilson, London - - - Roy, I've had that happen myself. It just hasn't sunk in with some people that they have no hearing over a certain frequency. I had one lady who kept insisting I was "tuning it wrong" even though it ...

•Hello, I am a French lover of mechanical music ... it is why my English is not perfect ! I have a pneumatic piano named "le guillola" (manufacturer: A. Guillot of Paris), No. 1 bis serial number 14128. I restored all the mechanics myself some years ago with the help of a fantastic man in Paris, Dou...

•Equal temperament is most widely used today, and the one most familiar to us. Temperament within an octave must be established before any tuning is considered. Temperament is the mathematical relationship between notes within an octave (the spacing). Few people are familiar with other exotic temper...

•I was hesitant about posting this to the MMD, but after careful consideration decided to write about the adoption of A-440 as the official pitch of the United States. The greatest proponent of A-440 was J. C. Deagan, founder of the company that bore his name. As early as 1900 he was advocating adop...

•Just to add to David Dewey's note on A=435 Hz vs. A=440 pitch standard [170405 MMDigest]. The A440 pitch standard was adopted by the Musical Industries Chamber of Commerce in 1925, the American Standards Association in 1936 (now known as ANSI) and the American Federation of Musicians (AFofM). Furth...

•Pitch of 150-year-old piano; the square grand saga continues... First, let me say thank you to all who commented on the possible value of my recently acquired square grand piano. I am especially grateful to D.L. Bullock for his encouraging comments on the restoration of the square grand. Based on h...

•Pitch shift from change in loudness With reference to the MMD thread of 2003.12.12.04 and following, the attached samples illustrate one way to see how loudness affects pitch. The examples are taken from a psychoacoustics demo CD I prepared a few years ago for my electroacoustics students. Intensit...

•To raise the pitch on a xylophone or glockenspiel, remove material equally from both ends. To lower the pitch, remove material from the back [underside], the centre part which has a curved profile. Keep this profile in its good curved shape whilst removing the material. All work should be done with...

•The early Concert Pitch at A=435 is also for 'unheated' spaces, and at 55 degrees F. The ANSI standard Concert Pitch is A=440 for more modern heating indoors and 70 degrees F., give-or-take normal temperature shifts. The percussion instrument maker, J.C. Deagan, wrote a paper arguing that in use th...

•I have tuned organs at various pitches as best suited for the organ. First check the wind pressure to verify that it is appropriate for the type of organ you are working on, and compatible with and appropriate for the cutup of the flue pipe mouths. Pick a few flue pipes which are in good condition ...

•Most xylophones have the tuning pitch stamped on the "A" pitched bar, for example A=435 which is stamped into the wood. If it is not stamped anywhere, a strobe tuner with an adjustable pitch control can be used to determine exactly where the xylophone is in pitch. Check carefully as it may not be p...

•I have run out of 4-foot pitch reeds for the Flute rank of an Aeolian Orchestrelle and I have a customer who has just finished a restoration and needs the following; can anyone help? 4 foot pitch rank it is No. 46 counting from the bottom. 'A' is stamped on it. The frame is 20 mm wide and 37 mm lon...

•Scotty Greene asked about the shift in pitch in pianos and organs which occurs with a temperature change. In pianos, the effect is transient: with cooling temperature, the strings contract in length raising their pitch. The amount of pitch change is different throughout the piano, with the largest ...