Conservative Octaves & tune-off

[Robert S. Bussell]

At 10:30 AM 10/24/96 -0700, you wrote:
>Bob, since you were there, I would be interested in your reaction to
>both of our tunings in regard to our octaves (try to disregard our few
>less-than-perfect unisons).
>
>Jim Coleman, Sr.
>
>
Jim, Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. My family has a new puppy. I
have been very busy.

   First let my say how grateful I am that you and Virgil put yourselves to
this task.  I have always respected you both very much and that respect has
only increased.  Congratulations, you both did an excellent job.

A few beginning remarks:

    I never did have an opportunity to sit down and listen to just intervals
of any of the tunings.  Therefore, I must make my evaluations solely on the
subjective musical reactions that I experienced.  My comments are  vague and
subjective too!!!

    There seemed to be a greater difference between the two sets of tunings
in the morning than in the evening.  I did not sit in the same place in the
room and that may account for some of the difference.  I thought I heard a
different amount of stretch between you and Virgil in the morning tunings.
The evening tunings sounded much closer, though I still thought Virgils
treble still sounded a little extreme even for my taste.

     Did the pianos have different stretch numbers? In the morning your
first piano, the left one, sounded as if it had tighter octaves,
particularly in the bass. In this instance I thought both were good
stretches in the bass but I preferred Virgils bass.   I will say this about
Virgils morning tuning, It had a fullness or richness of tone that I really
liked.  One of the best ways I can to describe Virgils morning tuning is to
say it had a wildness (this can be a good thing) to it that made me think of
a Steinway (explain that feeling?). It was more than just unisons. The
evening tunings seemed much less different in the bass and I liked them both
equally.   In the treble, I preferred your pianos both times or I would vote
indifferent. Your treble had a clean sound that I preferred.

    All tunings were excellent. When the music being performed used very
tight intervals I preferred your tunings.  When the music being performed
called for jumps all over the keyboard I preferred  Virgils

I hope this helps.
Bob,


Robert S. Bussell   Registered Piano Technician P.T.G.
Indianapolis In.
rbussell@iquest.net