Temperaments (In defense of Bill)

[John McKone]

Bill writes:

>When you tune a higher inharmonicity piano such as the Steinway in 1/7 comma
>meantone, you are tuning 5ths that are slightly closer to those of ET.
>Therefore, your "wolf" is less wide and also less dissonant by necessity. I
>therefore prefer a high inharmonicity instrument when tuning 1/7 CMT.  A
>higher inharmonicity also naturally lends itself to a greater degree of
>stretch within the octaves.  Thus, when tuning a Steinway in 1/7 CMT, I like
>to maximize the stretch I put on all of the notes except where the "wolf" is
>concerned.  By doing this, I can minimize the tempered sound of my 5ths in the
>outer octaves (and consequently my octave + 5ths and my double octaves +5ths,
>etc.) to the point where they don't sound really different than most people's
>pianos do when tuned in ET.

Doesn't this amount to an evening out of the very effect you are trying
create with the 1/7 meantone?   It would seem to me, that if you want the
full effect of this temperement to be appreciated, you might prefer a low
inharmonicity instrument, which would also be more consistant with the
inharmonicity of the more "historical" instrument on which this temperement
was originally used.


John McKone, RPT
St. louis Park, Minnesota
(612) 280-8375
mckonejw@skypoint.com