Ok, so I went back and read Joe's articles. (Thanks, by the way, all of you who have taken the time to send in material that gets published in the Journal.) There seems to be two different (though similar) goals in pitch adjusting methods: 1. Get the entire structure close to 440. 2. Get all notes close to a fine-tuning after a single pass. These may seem like the same thing, but the approach is different. Joe's published method uses an identical template for all pianos - regardless of where the final tuning will end up. This hopes to safely prepare an instrument for fine-tuning. An overpull percentage method hopes to leave the piano tuned with minimal adjusting needed on a final pass. This is based on measuring how far from the target pitch each section of strings are, and applying an overpull that is appropriate to the section of the piano, as well as the individual's tuning technique. The tuning is calculated first, (It's best to use strings at pitch) with the overpull applied based on the starting pitch of the note. So - The first method generally is a quick, once over, without setting pins - realizing that when finished, the piano is ready for a "normal" tuning. The second, usually incorporating some sort of averaging of the pitch adjustment measurements, hopes to finish the first pass with a substantial number of "freebies" - strings that are dead-on. This requires more time to set the pins during the first pass. You may hear that this method can't work, or won't be stable, but that simply has not been my experience. What certainly helps is to keep good records as you develop this technique, to identify how different models of pianos react, allowing you to adjust and refine your technique over time. Both methods use an A0 - C8 progression, tuning unisons as you go. I know there are other approaches that have been written about here, including strip-muting, or tuning only octaves before going to chromatics - with the hope of spreading out the tension adjustment. You have to make choices based on the condition of the instrument, as well as how far from pitch the instrument starts. Ron Koval Chicagoland
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC