I have been restoring an early square piano by Chickering circa 1840. In my communications with other piano techs and research, I have found that pitch, even in the 19th century, varied wildly. The 1840 Chickering, one of the very first pianos to incorporate a full cast metal plate, was designed to be tuned at AC0. By the 1870's pitch had risen to as high as 465! And, of course, it was different in Europe than in the US. There is a LOT of mis-information in the AC2 arguments, including that it was the Nazis who insisted on 440. NOT TRUE. American standard pitch for pianos was set at 440 in 1916, and all pianos with full (not victorian) cast plates have been designed in the US to be tuned at AD0 ever since. There has always been a quest for brighter and louder tone. Increasing string tension does this. But is happens with wind instruments as well. Scottish Highland Pipes were at one time pitched in A, and over a few hundred years been raised to Bb. So - just tune your lute 'til your (gut) 1st string breaks, all the while looking at a meter, then back it off 1 Hz. I'm sure it will be resonant with the cosmos :)
Tom Draughon Heartistry Music www.heartistry.com 714 9th Ave. W. Ashland, WI 54806 715-682-9362 On Jan 16, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Leonard Williams <[email protected]> wrote: > A late response to this thread, but I found this discussion/article; > > http://www.viewzone.com/432hertz222.html > > Not all that scientific, I don't think, but there's information to think > about. > > Regards, > Leonard Williams > > On 12/12/15, 12:21 PM, "Edward Martin" <[email protected] on > behalf of [email protected]> wrote: > >> Nice article, Ron. >> I agree, in that there is no definitive pitch. We seem to have >> settled on 440 vs. 415 as standards of modern vs baroque, but what >> about 460, or 392? With the lute, a few sources state to tune the >> treble to just before it breaks, and that is where one starts. >> I am wondering, has anybody on the list read some of the arguments >> about changing the modern pitch standard as a + 432? >> ed >> >> On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 7:27 AM, Ron Andrico <[1][email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> We have posted our Saturday morning quotations, this week on pitch >> standards. >> [1][2]http://wp.me/p15OyV-1qB >> Ron & Donna >> -- >> References >> 1. [3]http://wp.me/p15OyV-1qB >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> -- >> >> References >> >> 1. mailto:[email protected] >> 2. http://wp.me/p15OyV-1qB >> 3. http://wp.me/p15OyV-1qB >> 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > > --
