Ever-increasing piano

normally it is due to too much humidity in the house. You could check with a hygrometer.

I live in a seaside place and the humidity is really high! They are even talking about 70%

At this moment the humidity is 60%!!! I have the thermostat set to 20.5°C. The piano is located in a fairly large room communicating with the kitchen and I have no other placement options. Every time I have the piano tuned, after a few days I hear the first little noises and then the detuning (they told me it's a matter of the strings stretching). My question is: unable to remedy it in any other way, is it justifiable to increase the humidifier a bit and hope it stabilizes?

If I may suggest ways to decrease the humidity in the house, there are... In your case, perhaps it is even necessary for the health of those living in the house and to prevent mold on the walls and around the windows... You say the floor communicates with the kitchen, right? Well, generally humidity is at its maximum there. If you have a range hood, check that it isn't one of those recirculation types; filtering would create additional vapors, and obviously if you have the bad habit of hanging laundry inside the house, at least do it as far away from the piano as possible.

Moreover, know that there are silent forced ventilation systems that consume nothing (5 watts/hour); here in Rome they also cost relatively little, certainly less than keeping a dehumidifier running

We don't hang things inside. When we cook, we open a small window above the stove. We can see the humidity around the streetlights from our place.

No matter where you tune it to stay, by bringing it down the result will only be a perennial out-of-tune state that reappears after a few days.

Instead, by keeping it where it tends to go and redistributing the tension, it will eventually stabilize. Airing out the rooms, if the humidity is due to the climate and not the home's microclimate, there isn't much that can be done.

Giovannig, so you are confirming to me that it is better to "acquiesce" at the piano and raise the chorister?

I confirm that it is better to use the pitch to which the piano is tuned as a reference. One operates in the 440-444 Hz range and there is nothing to be scandalized about.

60% humidity is fine as long as one does not exaggerate with the temperature, which should be kept around 19 degrees.

The fact that the piano tends to go sharp is not a defect; on the contrary, it demonstrates a perfect state of health of the soundboard. Bye.

Thank you so much!!!! With the new hammer action, the piano has taken a leap in quality.

I performed a test with tuning software on both the baby grand and the upright piano. The upright, a Kawai, turns out to be even more sharp (443 Hz) but, to the ear, it is in tune: in fact, the deviation from the frequency is homogeneous and gradually becomes flatter towards the bass. The Yamaha, on the other hand, sounds out of tune. With the software, I saw that it was slightly sharp (441.8 Hz, tuned 10 days ago at 440) but with a non-homogeneous deviation (some notes are sharper than others and the lows become even sharper). The sharpest high notes are the same ones that emit a chirping sound when played loudly. I truly believe it needs to be retuned higher because of this tendency to go sharp.

If you want it to stabilize at 440, you have to bring it down to 438 and repeat the tuning after a few days, but it is useless and I advise against it; if it wants to stay at 442, let it stay there.

Noises produced by string defects, bridge defects or other components and any resonances are not connected to the pitch of the tuning or to the fact that it tends to rise.

Surely a higher choral tuning highlights any existing defects.

Ciao

Is it normal that those little noises aren't there this morning and everything seems more in tune?

I agree with giovannig!!!!!