Pitch Raise, was: Standard Pitch

[Paul Chick (Earthlink)]

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 11:35 AM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Re: Pitch Raise, was: Standard Pitch



>Yeah, I can tune a piano in less than an hour but it ain't going to sound
>too good a week later.  Considering I probably hit a note 6-7 times while
>tuning/setting a pin (including a listening blow), a can't even fathom how
>it is possible to do a fine tuning in under an hour.

Part of this depends on how "fine" tuning is defined. It's quite possible
to spend all day on one piano chasing minutiae that isn't going to entirely
resolve no matter what you do, and a lot depends on the piano. But I
suspect something else. I think you're listening too long and tuning too
little. You don't have to listen for three or four seconds to determine
beat rates setting intervals. Keep moving. If you hit each string twice as
many times and tune in the attack phase of the sound, rather than the
diminishing sustain that most relatively new tuners spend most of their
time in, you'll cut your time down considerably and probably produce a
better and more solid tuning as well. This is especially useful tuning
unisons, because you aren't listening to beats at all. You're listening for
divergence - drift - eeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwww. Hitting a string three or
four times a second, you can hear the beginning of that divergence and
chase it down very quickly. You may end up hitting each string 20+ times
each, but you're moving through the piano faster. All this activity tends
to settle the strings without pounding too, so it's not hard on the hands.
You do make a heck of a lot of noise though, so the earplugs are a good
idea.

Tuning times from 40-70 minutes, depending on the piano, but typically
around 50. Pitch raise and tune is typically 60-75 minutes, again,
depending on the piano. Some of them just fall into place and you get the
impression of being carried through the tuning. Others make you think again
about pursuing a career with Roto-Rooter. Those and the mega pitch raises
are the ones that take 90 minutes.

Ron N

Ron and all
You bring up some good points.  Pitch raising-correction- is not tuning, as
Jim Bryant stated, is a process only similar to tuning to get the tension
back in the piano that should be there at A440.  So, one is restoring or
removing tension.  The results do not have to be exact as long as the total
tension adjustment is close to the required amount for A440.  Technique
plays in to this.  Many tuners I've observed pitch raise and tune, waste a
lot of time doing other things than tuning.  Mute placement, moving and
removal tends to take as much if not more time than tuning. Tuning hammer
technique can make or break you. Well placed mutes can increase the
efficiency of the tuning activity, thus reducing the time spent.  You can
pitch raise and tune in 59 minutes or less with good tool and mute
technique.  My average pitch correction is 7-10 minutes per pass.  My
average fine tuning time is 40 minutes.  The note is played many times to
bring it in tune; keeping the string vibrating as much as possible and
listening to the attack to correct the pitch and set the pin.  Stability is
achieved.
	Many of us were taught an accepted method to tune the piano and we have
adapted it to fit us.  Few have challenged it because it works, but it costs
a lot of time.  I don't consider myself a fast tuner, or an athletic type to
get and stay in shape for the job.  I consider my tuning style to be
efficient, based on patterns that are simple and repetative.
	As you have stated before: "a piano cannot be tuned beyond its resolution."
Do the best the piano will allow and move on.  Many tuners think if they
spend a little more time trying to "improve" the tuning may be failing to
realize this fact.

Paul C