etd for inharmonicity

[Richard Moody]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jason Kanter <jkanter@rollingball.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: etd for inharmonicity


| what do I really want the machine for, you ask. I am not at all
interested
| in saving time on a pitch raise. I'm fascinated by the math of the string
| physics, and I know that there is a degree of guesswork in aural tuning,
| caused by inharmonicity, that the machine can help with.

Yes, it is easy to  think the machine can help but  also there may be the
reality of the "
flaw" of the instrument.   Do you think every piano got every inharmonicity
right from the single double wound strngs to the single single wrapped
strings to the bichords and heaven help us, the bass bridge bichord to
tenor bridge trichord break?  The machine may show you the inharmonicity
but will it show you how to tune the interval?  On some pianos the machine
may show hideous inharmonicity that indicates impossiblilty to tune and
then you are left with your ear.  On the other hand when tuning by ear and
you encounter this it is natural to wonder "now what would a machine do
here.?"

For example

The wrestle between !--V--VIII--XII--XV   with I being A2.   Here A2--E3
(I--V) is not so important, but of course the octave A2--A3 is the primary
tuning interval with A2 being tuned to A3.  Then A2 is compared to E4 the
12th and then to A4 the double octave.  If each of these by them selves all
sound OK then you have something to work with.  But many times in some
pianos A2--A3 will be good and so will A2--A4.   But A2--E4 might sound a
little "sour".   Then you check the 3rd--10th test, (A2--C#3 against
A2--C#4) If this checks out (they beat the same) where are you going to
fudge if you want A2--E4 to sound better?  Of course you have to be sure
about E4 so there are 3 or 4  aural checks there. If your tuning is
"correct" then A2 has to be tempered a little more and that means <gasp>
tempering the octave. But "wrong" inharmonicity has already "tempered the
octave".   So you tweek A2 until you are happy with the way it sounds with
the rest of the notes mentioned above.   Now if machines save time in this
then maybe when the price comes down (a lot) I might buy one.

 But in the end the ear must determine.  If I or another tuner show up and
say, "wait, I think I can make this or that interval better"   and he/she
does so and the people around say, "yes we can hear the improvement" the
assesment was made by ear rather than machine, even if the tuner did use a
machine to assist the correction.

---ric






|Aurally, I am often
| uncertain which partial to use for a given octave, and even if I set the
| temperament with beautifully progressing thirds and sixths, there is
usually
| a discontinuity in thirds and sixths progressing below the temperament
| octave. So i look forward to using the machine to refine my accuracy.
|
| Sheldon was indeed a very fast aural tuner. he regularly scheduled six
| tunings a day. the first maxim he gave me as his apprentice was that
there
| is no conflict between speed and accuracy. he would tune the whole piano
| once just to get all the tensions approximately right, then tune again to
| get each note right.
|
|
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|  jason kanter * piano tuning * piano teaching
| bellevue, wa * 425 562 4127 * cell 425 831 1561
| orcas island * 360 376 2799
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