ETD's

[Ron Koval]

<snip>
I've tuned several pianos with the Verituner and had the SAT
side by side, and I can say that they agreed on the first tuning
(Verituner takes in partials on the first tuning) but on the 2nd tuning
the Verituner tweeked the tuning the way I would have by ear. (Mostly. I
still check and change some things with the Verituner
<snip>

Hi all-

This illustrates one of the potentially confusing aspects of the 
Verituner.....

When it is used in the same manner as other gear, it is more likely to 
produce similar tunings.  As Jim states above, there was a difference 
between the first and second tuning.  Because the VT is measuring while you 
are tuning, it won't have "full" information untill you are just about done, 
if you are just trying to do one pass.  As new information is gathered, the 
ENTIRE tuning is recalculated; the tuning becomes a bunch of moving targets. 
  The workaround for this is to do one pass in fine tune mode, because then 
only the un-tuned notes are recalculated as new information is gathered.  
The downside being that you don't end up with the best possible calculation 
untill you re-tune the piano.  Then, there is the question of whether that 
old tuning will fit based on the current climatic conditions.

I believe that the best tunings with the VT are reached by doing a two-pass 
tuning.  I'm located in the midwest, so there is a pitch correction to be 
done at almost every tuning anyway....  I know of one tech on the west coast 
who chooses to measure all 76 notes before tuning- he doesn't see the need 
to pitch adjust as much.  It goes pretty quick, about 5 minutes.  By paying 
attention to tuning order, based on what type of custom style is being used, 
the first pass ends up pretty close, set to do the final pass.

As to time, I think that is less dependant on the machine, and is determined 
by the tech.  After working the way through the learning curve, the tuning 
pretty much takes me the same amount of time as with using RCT.  Yes, I did 
slow down a LOT everytime I've changed machines, and even techniques on the 
same machine.  Just before I got the Verituner, I was spending upwards of 15 
minutes with RCT to get the samples taken, and playing with the graphs to 
get the kinds of tuinings I wanted.  Even with the VT, I have a series of 
custom styles in the machine and will take the time to carefully pre-tune a 
bunch of A's to assure that the tuning will match the piano. I'm keeping 
records so I know which types of pianos match each style.  I've only run 
across one Kimball spinet that the VT couldn't get the octaves to work..... 
I hadn't started using the custom styles in the way I am now, so I'm looking 
forward to another stab at this one. (I should see it early next year)

Like a lot of our work, the last 5-10% toward "perfection" is the hardest, 
and not appreciated by all.  I feel that the Verituner has allowed me to 
move tunings of all of the pianos in my care closer to a "perfect" tuning 
without requiring a bunch of extra effort or time in the client's home from 
me. I notice the difference.....

Ron Koval
Concordia U.

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