Dear Folks,
TunerJeff has finally joined the aural/visual world. Under my X-Mas bush
was a brand new AccuTunerII with PTG tuning/test update, case, and
thumb-switch. It's loaded with a set of 20 pre-programmed tuning-suggestions
for pianos I frequently service. Gosh!
Why? Well... I've been helping with PTG-tuning tests in the Portland
area, and the SAT is darn near a necessity for this (the machines are used
for 'scoring' tests against a pre-determined "Master Tuning"). I've been
curious about the memory & pitch raise features for years. What finally
kicked it over for me (ie; buying the precious box) was the ability to swap
recorded tunings into the the home computer for storage and study. I'll soon
have the chance to load repeat custom tunings into the SAT before heading out
the door to service my regular customers...whether I used the machine to
create the pre-recorded tuning or not. I can simply RECORD my aural tuning
for posterity!. Golly!
For those who remember the "Conservative Octaves" thread I
kicked-off... you'll understand that TunerJeff has been a die-hard aural
tuner for quite a while, with a very dim view of the 'instant-tuners' that
sometimes result from purchasing electronic tuner-machines (...tempered by
the awareness that there have ALWAYS been many excellent tuners that use
these tuning tools! Don't get your feathers ruffled, guys!). But, it's a fact
that even the finest tuning machines suffer from the GIGO-concept. Garbage In
means Garbage Out. You have to really understand tuning in order to let the
machine know what to do, right? What I've done automatically for years will
now require precision & conscious thought, as I must let the machine KNOW
what I'm listening for in each octave... not simply 'hearing' what I want and
setting pins according to that.
It's always been my opinion that the finest electronic tuners have a
deep and subtle knowledge of tuning theory... they can only hear ONE partial
at a time, after all. One of the advantages to aural tuning, in my opinion,
is the automatic re-checking and listening to chords, intervals, etc as you
tune. Every string tuned is played WITH another string, be it an octave,
fifth or fourth that you're tuning.The machines tempt one to simply whip from
A0 to C88, single string by single string, without constant automatic
checking, but...again... it's a matter of GIGO. I'm trusting that the strong
early training in aural tuning & umpty years as an aural tuner will help me
overcome the (natural?) temptation to follow the machine's programming and
zip through standard tunings.
Some (early) observations of my new 'crutch';
1. The pre-programmed tunings are almost eerie in their' clean temperaments
and beautiful bass. The progression of beat-rates is astoundingly smooth at
ANY point in the piano's scale. Amazing.
2. FAC-Hatched Tunings (tuning several strings and measuring the
inharmonicity- the machine then suggests a tuning-stretch for the piano)-
These are subject to some improvement...not surprising, as they are simply a
smooth curve based on the instrument's general inharmonicity level and do not
take into account breaks in the scale or precise changes in string scaling.
But the FAC-feature has put decent tunings on the teensy spinets that tend to
chew up more of my time than tuning a decent grand. (I just can't leave a
spinet tuning alone... I've GOT to find a decent tuning in there somewhere!
End up spending more time than I should on spinets, I do.) Only major problem
I have with the FAC-tunings is (...as I feared/expected) that the top octave
from C7 to C8 is WAY SHARP to my 'conservative' ear. My instructions from the
Sanderson Clan indicate that the machine switches partials at this point, and
mebbe my ear DOESN'T. (Hee hee hee) I understand that I can/will design my
own tuning theories for the machine (& record 'em), so I must credit that to
my own tuning preferances, perhaps. Still... it's an amazingly clean
temperament created by this program in some of those PSOs.
(Piano-Shaped-Objects; A box vaguly resembling a piano with none of the
qualities prized by musicians or tuner/techs, capable of sounding notes when
the keys are depressed... but depressing in tone,character, and playability
too.)
3. Unison tuning- Wow! The machine has made me realize that my unisons were
not always as clean as I thought. The difference between my unisons and the
machine's is teensy... but measureable. I'm really impressed with the clean
unisons that the machine finds in 'wild-strings' in the high treble. Better
than my ear could find, many of 'em. Uneven bass unisons are also improved by
using the machine. An unexpected bonus.
4. Memory- ( ! )
5. Speed- Comes with time I suspect. Did manage a 50-minute spinet tuning on
an instrument in good condition and at pitch... but worry about the stability
on 'rush' jobs, I do. It's tempting to simply nudge the hammer to stop the
lights... leaving an unstable string and moving on. This is one of the more
worrisome quirks of tuning with an SAT, I believe. When tuning aurally, I'm
VERY certain of the pin-setting. I need to build new reflexes with the
machine-approach. Time will tell.
Hmmm. I seem to be taking considerable bandwidth here. Please forgive
the wandering fingers. I ask for feedback from you more experienced SAT-user
types on use of mutes. I'd like to hear some opinions on stability, and ways
to approach my new 'toy'. Any observations from you guys on FAC-hatched
tunings? (...yes I AM pulling out all the detailed posts from Jim Sr. and
pulling old Journals to wade through articles on electronic tunings that I
flipped through/by over the years. But... am curious on feedback from you
types who are more familiar with the concepts they discuss.)
Sincerely,
Jeffrey T. Hickey, RPT
Oregon Coast Piano Services
TunerJeff @ aol.com
ps- Reviews from fellow-techs, when I admitted I was purchasing an SAT for
testing purposes & speed with pre-recorded tunings and pitch raising, were
quite mixed. Some congratulated me on joining the 'modern' world. Some were
actually quite disgusted.
One, Eric Leatha, known in the E-Mail world as the famous/infamous"Tunerboy",
suggested a "12-Step Program for Accuholics" might be in order. Could we be
suffering from "Accuholism"!? Thanks a lot, Eric!
;>)
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