Resent without "equal" signs: On Jan 17, 2016, at 2:09 PM, Lute List <[email protected]> wrote:
I have been restoring an early square piano by Chickering circa 1840. In my communications with other piano techs and my research, I have found that pitch, even in the 19th century, varied wildly. The 1840 Chickering, one of the very first pianosto incorporate a full cast metal plate, was designed to be tuned at A 430. 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 A 432 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 A 440 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 have 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 :) -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
