source file: m1401.txt
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 09:18:16 EDT

Subject: Pianos and JI tuning

From: A440A <A440A@aol.com>

Dave asks:
> Is it always risky to a piano to occasionally
>move all the Abs by 40 cents or all the Ebs by 40 cents so as to move the
>wolf in mean tone around?

    Not always.  An old instrument may exhibit a lot of wire breakage, but new
ones should be able to take it.  
   The most highly stressed part of the wire is where it goes around bends,
and the tuning pin's first wrap has to flex quite a bit to go 40 cents worth.
Pianos that have been played real hard often show fatigue breakage at the end
of the speaking length. 
   It will probably destabilize the strings to move a  note 40 cents, but
usually, you would be moving the note no more than 20 cents from its normal ET
position, (unless you want to change from one meantone to  another).   
Regards, 
Ed Foote 
Precision Piano Works
Nashville, Tn.