SATs

[bwaller@sunrise.alpinet.net]

I like to point out that we can measure with accuracy the distance to the
moon, planets, etc. and can even project where these bodies will be so that
when we send a rocket into space the two paths will coincide and we will be
able to study and learn more about space.

So, too, we can measure with accuracy what a piano string is doing when
struck and can project where we are now in relation to where we want to be
when we finish tuning.

The SAT is a tool.  In this case it is an extension of the ear just as the
tuning lever is an extension of our hands.

Bruce Waller, RPT


At 01:11 AM 8/26/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>I, too, have sometimes had to deal with the ill- or improperly-educated
>client who sees a SAT (or a PowerMac laptop) and says something like "oh, so
>you don't tune them by ear anymore, eh?"
>And I also have a two-minute (surprises those who know me that I can say
>anything at all in only two minutes) speech.
>
>"Well, no, that's not quite right. Ultimately, all tuning is done by ear. But
>some of the better modern electronic tuning equipment can help us get 'real
>close, real fast'. In addition to helping me tune faster (which allows me to
>keep my rates down), I can relax a little during the 'rough' tuning part, and
>save my fullest concentration for the final/fine tuning of each string.
>"Its kind of funny, in a way. If you went to the doctor with a broken arm or
>leg, and he said 'ah heck, I am a good doctor, I don't need to use an x-ray
>machine to look at your arm (or leg)', you would probably get up and run out.
>Even if it were the leg that was broken!
>"And if you took your car in for a tune-up, and the shop did not have the
>latest and best infra-red analyzing machines - and the one at our local Chevy
>dealership cost close to $200,000 - so they could achieve the most fuel
>effecient and least smog producing mixture, you would go somewhere else. In
>fact, after you failed the DEQ test you would *have* to go somewhere else.
>"But sometimes people think it is odd for a piano technician to also have the
>latest tools. Kind of like we expected to be 'backward' or something."
>By this time they are agreeing with me, and telling me how smart I am to have
>the knowledge I have, and how smart they are for calling me in the first
>place.
>
>My two minutes are up.
>
>Randy Potter, R.P.T.
>
>P.S. Please note that we have a new e-mail address - rpotter@bendnet.com
>We may also be reached through our web site at www.tuningschool.com
>
>