Here is some more scoop on the sound samples. One of the samples, I believe it is the fit.wav has a little jingle sound in it after about one second. This sound is coming from the id tags on my dog's collar as he shakes his head. I am assuming that means that he doesn't like that sound and would prefer the unfit hammer. The tuning is the same for both notes. I took the sample for the fit first. Then I took out the action and filed a little off one side. I checked it to make sure it was no longer fit. I then recorded it. So, I believe that the two samples were taken about five minutes apart. A first hearing the sounds are indistinguishable to my ears. If I listen a little longer I can tell them apart. My preference goes against the grain, I believe, of what people are aiming for. The unfit is what I prefer (here). It audibly appears to have a longer singing tone. The fit has no dirt in it and is a little uninteresting. There are several things to look for in the graphs. The best way to make a comparison is to actually print them. You would need some kind of clipboard program to capture what is on the screen. The next question is very important. It is actually heeded advice I received from Harold Conklin a while back. After you think you have isolated in your minds ear the sounds it is then that you go to the analyzer. Here is the question: do the graphs agree with what you hear? The tendency is to through away our judgment in favor of blind trust of measuring equipment. Piano sound is extremely complex. It is so difficult to measure in a way that allows one to distinctly discriminate between to pianos. There are so many factors that put tinted glasses to the vision. Are you actually measuring the equipment. Is there some sort of bias to the microphone and sampling device? Am I only sampling one spot in space? What is the microphone was moved about six inches to another spot in space? To look for in Spectrum. Notice the continuity of the spectrum lines. The unfit has discontinuities amounst several of its partials. This most like accounts for the wangyness that is typically identified with unfit strings. However, also notice that over time the partials of the unfit note end up stronger. From this we might conclude that the partials periodically disappearing indicates that energy is not be transferred out of the string as fast hence a longer sustain. Also, notice in the spectrum the non harmonic noise content by looking for spots or clusters on the graph that are not part of the partial lines themselves.
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