SAT "Ammunition"

[Zen Reinhardt]

Hi Avery --

If institutional tuning is anything like floor tuning at a large dealer,
then a SAT is a must!!  I was an aural tuner for close to 10 years before
indulging in an SAT.  Now I can crash through 8 tunings in the time it used
to take me to do 5-6.  Furthermore, pitch adjustments are a snap and
surprisingly close, so the final tunings are infinitely more stable.

Concert tunings can be recorded into memory, and later refined when time
permits.  Meanwhile, the SAT has sure been a lifesaver when I've had to
tune during noisy soundchecks, especially when I've had to tune the same
piano frequently such as during a festival.  I had it at the most recent
Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival which had no climate control being outdoors,
and yes, tuning the piano I was in charge of was quick, easy, and to the
point, every time.  I sure wish I had that thing when I was working at the
Gem Theatre in Detroit where I tuned the same piano twice a week.  Like
most institutional buildings, the Gem had very primative climate control
capabilities and the first cold snap outside invariably meant a long tuning
job inside.

There is nothing like the SAT for tuning two or more pianos together for a
performance or a teaching studio for that matter.  Now it takes me about
1/2 the time it used to to do such a feat and with none of the bad words
that had been heard for miles around.  Why, at the Yamaha reception at the
1996 PTG convention in Dearborn, I was to blame for tuning 3 Disklaviers
together, a job that took only 3 hours total thanks to the SAT.  A job like
that used to take the better part of 7 hours with all of the fidgeting and
fusswork, and the results didn't have the power of the 9-string unisons
that were heard at the reception.

Stress reduction?  You bet!  I don't feel nearly as blown out as I used to
after a long day, even with the greater numbers of pianos hit that day. 
For one thing I can load up with hearing protection.  For another, I don't
have to concentrate nearly so hard on what I'm trying to hear in a noisy
situation.  Now try this one for size ... I can still tune even when I am
feeling at my worst (migraines, colds, etc.) and produce acceptable
tunings, something I couldn't do before.  I've had no call-backs to repeat
a job I had attempted while not feeling great since getting the SAT.

Hope this helps ---

ZR!  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net


----------
> From: Avery Todd <atodd@UH.EDU>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: SAT "Ammunition"
> Date: Tuesday, January 06, 1998 6:55 PM
> 
> List,
> 
>    I've decided to seriously try and get my *boss* to let me buy an SAT.
> What I need is as much ammunition as possible as to ways that it would
> benefit the university/School of Music, as well as ways it would help me
> to do my job better/quicker/easier. Here are a few things I can think of:
> 
>
> 
>    Feel free to add to the list and/or to elaborate on any of the above
> reasons. I would be particularly interested in having responses from
> institutional techs (university, school systems, large churches, etc.)
> who are aural tuners and have switched to the ACT, especially in
> institutional settings.
>    Of course, anyone else is more than welcome to respond also. Thanks
for
> any suggestions/ideas.
> 
> Avery
> 
> ___________________________
> Avery Todd, RPT
> Moores School of Music
> University of Houston
> Houston, TX 77204-4893
> 713-743-3226
> atodd@uh.edu
> http://www.uh.edu/music/
> 
>