A Small Equation = inharmonicity??

Michael Gamble michael@gambles.fsnet.co.uk
Sun, 12 Oct 2003 19:08:48 +0100


Hello Don
Many thanks for your detailed explanation - as requested. The ETD I used for
bringing the pianos up to pitch is not the one I use for tuning CF3  or
Model D. Then I use an arm/leg job called  TLA tuning set CTS-5 made by Marc
Vogel, Germany. I only use this set for one 8ve., listening at the 1/3,
1/4,1/5, correcting by ear any discrepancy from a smoothe decrease in the
major 1/3 beat rates as I go down the keyboard. This so called "smoothe"
decrease is, of course, equally tempered. Then I turn the machine off and
the rest is done by ear. Going down first and then up to the top. At the
bottom I use 1/10 extensively - I can stretch a 1/10 quite comfortably. At
the top end I make much use of 1/15, but I have to admit my span is not that
large. I use just one wedge - quite enough - and tune the whole tri-cord as
I go. I've developed my "Quadrant System" along the same lines and test my
results by it as I go. You soon train the ear to detect variations in beat
rate from the norm.
So I do NOT rely on that machine, but on my ears. It is the end result which
matters. Although I do now, for purposes of speed, use the machine for just
one 8ve., I rely entirely on a developed "sixth sense" to tell me if
anything goes awry. So in this respect my tuning is not scientific but
artistic. After all, the pianist who uses the piano does it for artistic
reasons. There I now rest my case. I use a large canvas photographers bag as
a case and it weighs a ton...
Regards
Michael G (UK)



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