Unison Flatter than each Individual string?

[David Ilvedson]

Ron,





>>Is this not archaic?  With a ETD you tune the note until the
>>lights/pattern stops and you have and absolute A440 or whatever pitch you
>>want in a few moments.  Is this ETD tuned note any less of a tuned
>>note?  I got to feel there's a lot of ego involved in tuning aurally with
>>a tuning fork...that and masochism...
>>
>>David I.

>Sure it's archaic - unlike inserting and removing paper shims and bending
>wires for fine adjustments. Unlike using small rocks glued to a piece of
>paper to scrape the epidermal filaments of sheep from the surface of a
>large mass of them used to whack the strings, or repeatedly stabbing these
>same masses with needles to enhance the musical experience.

So you don't upgrade your shop tools, etc?

Maybe it's ego,
>maybe masochism, obviously a personality flaw. Maybe the charm is that the
>aural tuning is an individually built, hand crafted product that, like
>certain pianos of similar ilk, finds it's market appeal in the fact that
>this is the case, rather than being an utterly perfect machine built and
>validated, certified flawless product, each precisely like the last in
>being the best it can be. Maybe the aggravation of dealing with the archaic
>details is the only thing that makes the process entertaining enough to be
>bearable on a day to day basis. Maybe it would be too easy to just sit and
>let the machine do the thinking. Maybe the aural tuner isn't interested in
>learning the apparently hundreds of new tweaks and workarounds to try to
>duplicate with an ETD, a process they feel they are already realistically
>adequately functional at aurally. Maybe the best of all possible tunings on
>every single piano they see isn't their life's driving ambition, and they'd
>rather burn their brain cells pursuing something else that they consider
>more interesting.


>Maybe they're scared to death they will find out how bad
>a tuner they really are if they had a means of comparison.

A very real possiblity...

>Maybe they're
>just technologically backward troglodytes that quit when they were ahead
>when they finally learned to work their fork. Maybe they're just being
>difficult, because it  annoys some folks. Maybe they actually find some
>satisfaction and reward in doing something the hard way, that's theirs when
>they are done - warts and all. Maybe they're allergic to batteries.

Yeah, good points all of them...with this imperfection of the piano I don't see the
need to waste any more of my energy on the "hand-made" piano tuning than necessary.
The whole wonderfulness of the ETD is letting it do the roughing in and letting your ear do the fine stuff.

>"What you have been obliged to discover by yourself leaves a path in your
>mind which you can use again when the need arises."
>                                         -- G.C. Lichtenberg --


>Ron N