Dear Jeff, Many thanks for your witty and very apt comments on strip muting. I have become something of a closet strip muter over the years, as more and more reputable technicians have denounced this method, often in absolute terms. I have tried the alternatives; in fact, I was trained to strip only the temperament octave and to tune the rest of the piano "unison as you go". When I tried the strip method after about six years of tuning, I was immediately impressed by the reduced effort and tuning time brought about by not having to continually move the mutes and by the improved stability and evenness of my tuning. I have been devoted to this method since. In addition to your reasons for preferring strip muting, I would add that as one tunes out from the center of the instrument, in the course of using checks one finds previously tuned notes that require adjustment. Being human, I feel that I am more inclined to go back and make fine adjustments when only one string is involved, than I would be if I had to change three. Also, when one string on each note throughout the keyboard has been tuned, it is easy, in fine concert work, to run chromatic checks up and down the entire range, making fine adjustments to pull it all together. I modify this method somewhat for pitch raises, usually tuning the long bridge first. I am very pleased usually with the results I get using strip muting for pitch raises. Since areas that dip in pitch during pitch raises tend to do so consistently, one learns how to compensate. Last week I raised an older console about 20 cents. After the first pass, it was up to pitch and remarkably in tune with itself--with a slight touch-up, it would have satisfied most clients as is. I have performed high level concert work now very successfully for over twenty years, and have some confidence, born from experience, in what I am doing. Perhaps this is just another example of our adjusting to our circumstances, and compensating for the instrument, the environment, our tools, our body, and our techniques. I am very comfortable with my method, and it has served me well; but I have no doubt that other technicians are using very different methods, and achieving results as good or better. Charles Charles Ball School of Music University of Texas at Austin
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