Thoughts on tuning speed

[JIMRPT@AOL.COM]

Considering the why do you take a "hour ?" to tune vs how can you do it less 
than an "hour ?" camps and the differring philosophies is always interesting. 
Whenever this thread comes up I always see new perspectives stated.

 What is important in a "good" tuning? (which is an redundant oxymoron to 
begin with:)

>From the customers standpoint:
1. Stability.
2. Cost.
3. Accuracy.

>From the techs standpoint:
1. Profitability.
2. Stability.
3. Accuracy.
4. Suitability.

 These priorities can be shifted around but the "profitability" can not take 
a lesser place for the tech. If you accept that as a given, without 
discussion, then the other factors are in play..right?

As for "accuracy"...what is accurate enough? is a roll in a unison that takes 
one second to fully develop accurate enough?...two seconds?.....three 
seconds? four seconds?  
 In an interval, say a 4th, is being just a hair flat "accurate" 
enough?...being a hair "sharp" accurate enough? Say the flatness/sharpness 
shows up, i.e. is noticable, only after three different tests are 
applied...is that "accurate" enough?

 Depending on the situation and customer the answers to the above questions 
will change because we can not afford to put a "concert" tuning on a 'concert 
spinet'...in the first place it would be a waste of time and in the second 
place the customer would not be willing to pay for it in most cases. 
Conversly we cannot afford to put a spinet tuning on a concert venues' 
instrument.

First we need a definition of what we mean by "tuning"....so...let's use 
tuning as meaning the minipulation of keys/pins/strings to change the pitch 
of individual strings...as our definition............... and easing keys, 
voicing the odd hammer, repinning the odd shank, fixing the odd whatever does 
not play a role in "tuning"...alright?

 It also depends on our interpretation of what average "tuning time" means. 
 Does it mean from the time we walk in the door, until we walk out the door? 
If so, than anything less than an hour is probably not adequate.
  Does it mean from the time we start taking apart the thingee to tune it? If 
so than
an hour should be adequate for a seasoned tech.
  Does it mean from the time we start putting in the temperament strip? Or 
turn on the ETD? If so than an hour should be more than adequate for the 
seasoned tech.

 Keeping in mind that what we do what we do in order to earn a living and not 
to starve for our art/profession.......... than it stands to reason that 
speed is important....but that is speed without sacrificing quality isn't it? 
The beginner is not going to be as profitable/fast as an experienced tech nor 
should they emphasize speed over quality or they won't get to be an 
experienced tech in most cases.........

 Speed comes with practice at speedy work. Some can work speedily and some 
can't due to numerous reasons such as hand/eye coordination, manual 
dexterity, confidence in abilities, ability to recognize when further 
improvement is not needed or really possible, etc., etc.

 Stability speaks for itself mostly but what do we mean by stable tunings? 
Well when I say "stable" I mean that just playing on it won't knock any 
unisons out far enough to be unacceptable to the ear. I don't mean that the 
thingee will hold up through drastic weather changes or fires, floods, and 
hurricanes. :-)

 This above holds up without regard to the temperamnet used...in other words 
whether the EBVT is used for the Seinfeld Trio or an ET is used for the 
Saturday Morning Musicale Coffee Clutch these kinda hold true.............

 I agree with BB that tuning/going over a thingee twice is faster and more 
potentially  stable than going over it once will ever be.
 In conclusion just let me say that what ever else you do just keep the PSAS 
in your work and you will be fine without regard to whether Steve F. can 
"tune" in 7 minutes, or Wim in 20, or not! :-)
My view.
 Jim Bryant (FL)