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Well not really. But part of the reason is that my guitars are laminate,not solid like the top end acoustics. Laminates are less susceptible to humidity than solid wood tops.
But who are my friends in Austria?? And my question is are upright pianos as susceptible to humidity changes as grands?

LOL- Larry,

Your 'hypothetical, yet unmet, and soon to be,' friends.

All of the same principles apply to a vertical, acoustic piano.

This all brings up another interesting point that I would very much like to know the answer to. Have there been studies that conclusively show that the Steingraber Phoenix system, with carbon fiber soundboard, or the Luis and Clark carbon fiber string instruments, are inherently more stable than their wood counterparts, and, if so, by how much. In other words, if I place a string at a certain frequency on each type of instrument, how much longer will it maintain that frequency as compared to a wood version of that same instrument? Also, when it does drift away from the desired frequency, what is causing it to do so in a carbon fiber instrument?

Playing it. No joke.

Thanks all,
I also have a couple of WOODEN guitars, those are just about all wood and do "drift" out of tune, but the strings tend to stay in tune with each other. If/when one drifts more than the others it is USUALLY a sign that it will need to be replaced fairly soon.
{There are other factors on nylon string guitars though, frets tend to "waist" strings, leading to local thinning and stretching.}

Yes, I "get it" that the sound board and all the other bits of wood have coupling effects, but for unisons in particular I would have thought that it is the same bit of wood, those at least should "stay together".

As far as the pin block goes and its grip on the pin - not sure I agree.
As a "machine" it is WAY less than 50% efficient, i.e. no amount of string pounding should be able to rotate a pin (in my uninformed opinion, etc.)

If all it comes down to is that wood is subject to environmental factors and is variable in its consistency my current conclusions are;
1) Wood can/could be carefully selected and matched, probably IS in top tier grands.
2) It could at least be SEALED on all exposed sides (& inside holes) and may be in some places.
3) It may be the WRONG material in many places - tradition aside.

I really am NOT trying to argue wood out of pianos - like there would be half a chance of doing THAT (-:

Ahhh, whatever happened to that "self tuning piano" ?
The invention that sent current through the strings (as wires) to get them up to some previously set tuning temperature (of 96 F as I recall).

Ahh, so that only goes further to prove my earlier point about the ability to "stabilize" a tuning,to any great degree , using some sort of "technique", such as "flagpoling", "tilting" or heavy strikes on the keys. If the simple act of playing sends even the "humidity proof" instruments, such as the Luis and Clark violins, violas and cellos, or the "humidity resistance" piano, such as the Steingraber Phoenix, out of tune, then no "technique" could overcome those mechanical forces for very long.

I hear you... "Nerf" would be a great
material to make into cars.... but
that darn tradition thing....

Correct - esp. if it's a well-used piano.

Pneumatic fenders with same/similar construction to tires ?
Yes, but those would put body shops out of business and probably ENCOURAGE fairground bumper car behavior.
Much as helmets and shoulder pads have made (American) football a MUCH more dangerous game.

MOVING existing problems is not the same as SOLVING them, or by design AVOIDING them (-:

We are getting farther from the topic here...

Any istrument that employs strings under tension is gonna be subject to detuning, whether played or not.

One could IMAGINE a string instrument that (by design) does NOT.

Lets see, the effect of increasing temperature on (most) materials that could be used for strings is to expand them, i.e. to reduce their tension and therefore the pitch.

OK, but that ASSUMES that the length remains constant.
I see no good reason to not design some way of changing the length to directly compensate - not that I have a solution, just the notion that it COULD be done.
("length" should probably be "speaking length" ?)

I know, I know, this may be impractical for "pianos" (as currently defined).

...and yes, the double negative probably COULD have been avoided.