Tuning Time

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/6/00 8:10:56 PM Central Daylight Time, 
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:

<< When I tune the typical 1932 Wurlitzer grand
 (original condition) or the 1958 Lester spinet or, even better, the 1965
 Aeolian spinet it commonly takes me two hours to make these things sound
 less lousy than they did when I got there. I know you can only do so much
 with old/worn-out/low quality pianos, but why can't I do a lousy job on
 these in the same amount of time it takes me to do a good job on a decent
 piano.  >>


Terry

Me thinks you are trying too hard to make a silk purse out of sows ear. I 
have said this comment before, but to increase your tuning time on these 
cheap spinets, STOP LISTENING, AND START TUNING. What do I mean by that?  
When we tune, we need to hear the difference in pitches between two strings 
before we can bring the string we are tuning to the correct pitch. When we 
have piano with a lot of inharmonicity and a lot of false beats, it takes us 
longer to hear the difference. And it also takes us longer to bring the 
string in tune. What I do is turn the pin constantly, going above and below 
the pitch, and find the "best" pitch the string should rest at. You will hear 
beats, but you'll hear more beats and then less beats. Settle on the pitch 
with the least number of beats. To save time, you need to constantly work the 
pin. Don't take too much time listening for the perfect solution, because 
there isn't one. 

I hope this explains it.

Willem