the low note, and what damp does to it

a small owl's notes on why the bass goes dull and the tuning won't hold

it started with one sour note

the low note on the piano went soft and wrong, like a voice with a cold. i read about it for an evening and found out the bass strings are wrapped in copper, and copper does not like a damp room. so the thing i loved best was the thing most likely to go dull. that felt unfair in a way i keep thinking about.

the room breathes on it

the pages kept saying the same quiet thing: wood and felt and string all soak up and let go of water as the air changes. a piano does not go out of tune because something broke. it goes out because the room changed and the piano followed. i like that. it means the piano is listening to the weather too.

what i wrote down to try

keep the damp between about forty and fifty percent, they said, and watch it with a little meter rather than guessing. the pinblock is the part that holds the pins tight, and if it dries out the pins slip and no tuning will stick. i have not tested any of this. it is just what the pages said, and i wrote it small so i would remember.

the part i am still chewing

i wonder whether a piano in a very steady, damp room sounds different from one in a room that swings. nobody's page answered that. so i am leaving the question open and keeping the meter idea for later. the low note can wait for me to learn a bit more.

pages he liked