ear plugs

[John Musselwhite]

>        I'm wondering if these expensive fitted plugs really work for the
>high treble and honing in solid unisons. The cheap foam ones work fine for
>pitch raising and most of the tuning, but I find that it is impossible to
>finely polish solid unisons or tune the high treble with them. John, have
>you also tried the cheap plugs and determined that yours are worth the
>cost?

The "cheap plugs" I usually carry are called "Sonic II" and are not really
recommended although they are better than nothing. I've used them since my
rock&roll days and still wear them in an emergency. They are NO substitute
for the real thing - custom-fitted plugs. I keep foam plugs around too, and
cut them in half if I need to wear them when tuning.

The Sonic IIs work by using a diaphram with holes in them to block out high
intensity low frequencies but pass much of the treble so for our purposes
aren't that great at reducing the actual sound pressure level.  At least if
you go to a loud gathering or have to be backstage at a rock concert they
keep the "noise hangovers" down.

Speaking of rock concerts...

One time they paid for themselves was when I had to tune an acoustic piano
backstage at an outdoor rock concert while a band was playing on stage a
stones-throw away. The only top-end leakage I got was from the stage
monitors since the mains faced the audience and I was behind them, but the
low-end was enough to curdle whatever was in my stomach. The Sonics filtered
enough of the noise to allow me to (barely) hear what I was doing.

I wish promoters wouldn't forget to call the piano tuner BEFORE the concert
starts. They caught me on my cellular phone while the first act was playing
and I had to fight the traffic into the racetrack where the concert was held
to get there in time to do anything. They paid the bill (suitably inflated)
without even a flinch. For those interested the band was called "Midnight
Oil", but I didn't stay to hear them... My tastes lean more toward Mozart!

                John
John Musselwhite, RPT               Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com       john.musselwhite@67.cambo.cuug.ab.ca