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Hi,

I just bought a baby grand(Hailun 151) for my wife 3 week ago and out of curiosity i downloaded an Android apps "Datuner" and test it on all the note.



Most of the lower notes are pretty ok, hit within +-5c
From middle to high octave onwards, most notes hit +10c

The question is, are these reading any useful? I know that acoustic piano notes are not suppose to be as exact as electronic notes.

The piano is out of tune which is to be expected following delivery.

Should the middle and high note be within the datuner "green band"? Or just +-5c like the lower note to be in tune?

The green line is a generic inharmonicity curve that is typical of pianos. The piano can be successfully tuned with a different curve and in real life the notes will not fall exactly on anybody's curve.

I encourage listening to using a device to determine out-of-tuneness.

Oic,

I'm just wondering is it due to my room humidity(range from 55-80%) that seem to stretch all my note from middle to high octave : pitch up +10c

New pianos are inherently unstable. Get it tuned. Get a base-line from that tuning on the telephone app., then go from there. The advice to learn to hear if the piano is out of tune is the best course. I've never heard of that app., and there's no possible way to know if it's accurate at all. (My guess is that it isn't.)

Thank you for the advice, will record down all the frequency once the tuner came for the 1st tune next mth. That would form a baseline for me.

That is indeed way out of the generally recommended range for relative humidity. If you got a user booklet with the piano, or if you can otherwise get one, please check the recommended range for that instrument.

Best wishes-

And how do you know that your room humidity is that level -- from a device as accurate as your phone tuner? Unless you are measuring humidity with a real hygrometer such as is used by HVAC folk, you don't really know . . .

I got a hygrometer and record the reading from time to time, seem pretty accurate compare to Australia Bureau of Meteorology reading. It's winter over here now and humidity are pretty high compare to the rest of the year.

Meaning that you have put it outside and checked the Met. Bureau report?

Have you done this over the span of a year?

I'm not saying yours isn't accurate -- just being extremely skeptical from having seen identical hygrometers giving radically different readings in the same room and others that simply don't respond at all to changes. Every now and then a cheap hygrometer actually is dead-on, so I'm not saying it can't happen. Some don't even read below 20% -- they just go blank. You might check with a psychrometer setup. Either get a sling psychrometer or make a stationary one with two thermometers. You can get the differential charts online to interpret R.H.

My hygrometer are place just beside my piano. Reading from inside and outside should be similar i suppose, not saying my hygrometer are 100% accurate but should be around the ballpark figure.

Not at all. That's one of the critical points. In winter, the inside of a home is typically much warmer than the outside, which results in a significantly lower relative humidity inside, i.e. higher RH outside. For example, the same moisture content that gives 70% RH at 10°C only gives 40% RH at 20°C.

@ Keith:
Why would a homeowner want to read RH below 20%? If it's that low, its critically low for a piano anyway.

It's just a matter of putting a number on how horribly dry it gets here in the Upper Midwest during winter. We have one of the worst environments in the world for pianos. In the summer, it's possible for ambient indoor humidity to reach 80% and in the winter I have measured 12%. It's the cold outdoor temps which might be at a somewhat reasonable 36% but when you raise that zero-degree-F 36% RH air to 70 deg. F indoors, the R.H. plummets. So, we can have a R.H. swing of 60-70% every 6 months.

Wanna come look at our soundboards? (Never mind sticky key service calls, etc.)

It's easy to understand why most of us techs here are Dampp Chaser converts. The difference between protected and unprotected pianos can be dramatic.

Good grief! (That being said, the OP is in Melbourne, Australia, which has a "temperate" climate, but is also known for its changeable weather.)



Umm, I think not. Methinks I'll cry. I've seen what swings from 70% to 30% can do already.