advice needed

[Frank Weston]

Try a Vallotti-Young.  It's theoretically the best form of
well-temperament, and in actual practice it gives very good results.  The
difference between ET and WT is pretty easy to detect by just playing
chords (or thirds) around the circle of fifths.  C should sound pretty
sweet, and by the time you get to C# it should sound fairly dissonant. 
Below are the offsets for Vallotti-Young.  You should be able to enter them
into your RCT and tune away.
A	+0
G# 	-1.955
G	+3.91
F#	-5.865
F	+3.91
E	-1.955
D#	+0
D 	-1.955
C#	+3.91
C	-5.865
B	+3.91
A#	-1.955

If you are really intent on hearing the difference between ET and WT, I
suggest you do the tuning on a very good and very stable piano, not a
"non-critical mediocre piano".  A few good blows on a bad piano could
easily destroy the difference between ET and WT, and in any case the
difference between a good stable tuning and a poor tuning is far greater
than the difference between ET and WT. 

Frank Weston

.----------
> From: pianoman <pianoman@inlink.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: advice needed
> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 1998 9:01 PM
> 
> Hi People,
> With all the historical temperament stuff going on and since the RCT is
> capable of over 50 of them:
> 1.  What would be the closest thing to equal temperament to try on a
> non-critical type tuning of a mediocre piano?
> 2.  With the type of temperament used, what would be the main
> characteristics to listen for in the way music would sound with it?
> James Grebe
> R.P.T. from St. Louis
> pianoman@inlink.com
> "A diamond is coal that stayed there", give me the patience to stay.