Phil's comments made me want to share about the undesireable situation I have to tune in, for one of the institutions I take care of. They always want the pianos serviced during the quarter break, because the instruments are tied up during the year. The problem is that the air or heater may or may not be on while I'm there, and I have no contol over that. The humidity changes in the practice rooms is extreme. I learned this the first year I tuned there. I came in in the fall (just as the weather was starting to cool and heaters had not come on) and heroically lowered the pitch on the practice room pianos any where from 19 to 30 cents. For aural tuners, that's about 5 - 7 bps. I just figured the previous technician had messed up. I was wrong. A few weeks later, after the heaters kicked in, I returned to find the pianos from 19 to 30 TOO LOW! This is impossible. I decided the only way to keep from getting complaints on these practice rooms, was to make sure that I complained louder than anyone else. So for the last 4 years, I've been making sure to fuss about how the pianos in the practice rooms are not holding their tunings, to anyone who would listen. That Psychology 101 course sure comes in handy. So, in those cases, I think I could use a pitch pipe or my imagination for a reference, with no significant loss. But, normally I've used everything, from tuning forks, electonic forks (seemed convenient because of "no-hands" feature, but a problem when needing to compare the beat rate of interval with the instrument--it wouldn't shut-up with no hands), and am now using the Accutuner, with which I'm very pleased. Bob Simmons Cal. State San Bernardino
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