tuning multiple keyboard instruments

[Clyde Hollinger]

Paul,

I've been asked a couple times to tune the piano to the organ.  I do not match
the piano to the organ unless I am asked to.  In a church with an old pipe organ
that can't be tuned up to pitch, I checked a number of pipes and picked out a
happy medium for the piano.  Their Yamaha grand now always gets tuned 9c flat.
If the organ can be easily tuned (such as electric/electronic, I think), then I
suggest they have the organ tuned correctly, rather than tuning the piano
incorrectly to the incorrect organ.  I ran into that, too.

I only have to tune two pianos together in one case.  They are both Everett
studios of about the same age, so I usually use one RCT tuning for both.  If I
had to tune two vastly different pianos, such as a spinet and a grand, I would
tune each to its own scale at A440.  You won't find this arrangement at a fine
concert anyway.  If the pianos are close in type and quality, you could sample
each and average them on RCT, although I never took the time to learn how to do
that.

For your third scenario, in churches where a piano is used with an
electric/electronic keyboard, it is also used with guitars and what-all.  I tune
the piano correctly and leave it at that.  The better keyboards are tunable
anyway.  If an organization is using a cheap keyboard that can't be tuned, it
should be close enough to pitch, and if it's not, no one will notice anyway.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger

Paul Mulik wrote:

> Potentially silly questions from a novice technician:
>
> A:  Suppose a piano needs to be tuned to another instrument (let's say a
> synthesizer or pipe organ).  Should I just make sure A4 matches and then
> tune the piano as normal, or do I need to determine precisely what
> temperament was used on the other instrument?  In the case of a synthesizer,
> I would think the temperament might vary depending on the setting (for
> example "concert grand" might use a different temperament than "honky-tonk
> piano" or "harpsichord").
>
> 2:  Suppose I'm going to tune two pianos together, using RCT.  It seems to
> me I could just calculate a tuning for one of the pianos, and then use the
> same tuning for both instruments (without recording the second piano).  Any
> reason why this wouldn't work?
>
> III:  Going back to part A, what if I used  RCT to record the other
> instrument (let's say it's a synthesizer), and then used that to tune the
> piano?  What I mean is, suppose I started up the program as I always do, but
> after clicking "record," suppose I played each of the A's on the synthesizer
> (instead of the A's on the piano) and then proceeded to tune the piano as
> usual.  Would this work, or is this a crazy idea?