How we hear

[David Love]

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Trying to listening out 15 seconds I think is excessive and unnecessary.
First of all, most of the piano won't give you 15 seconds of usable
sustain.  Second, it makes the job take too long.  Third, if there is
any benefit of listening beyond, say, 5 seconds is so negligible as to
probably not even be measurable.   A dead on unison will have a specific
characteristic that will be evident within the first few (3-5) seconds.
I can only describe the sound as one of the tone closing up or folding
up as the attack envelope dissipates.  In the past it has sometimes been
referred to as "tune the unisons dead".  You can hear this right away.
The other issue is when you should actually take the time to check your
unisons by hanging onto the note for an extended period of time.  I
would say that only in the final phase of checking should that be done.
I go through and tune unisons as I go, listening beyond the attack for
maybe 1-3 seconds depending on what section of the piano I am in.  In
the final phase, which is really just a final check of each unison, I go
through each note one at a time and allow the note to sustain for maybe
5 seconds in the lower part of the piano and somewhat less in the upper
part of the piano. Overall, I do this final test with a fairly soft
touch (p) and listen for this folding up following the attack.  If I
hear the unison opening up I mute first one side then the other and
compare to determine which side is out.  If both sides are equally out
then I mute the center string and if the outer strings are clean it
tells me that the center string has probably moved. If I think the
center string may have moved, I go back and double check the interval
tuning on that note.   At the very upper end of the piano I am hitting
the note probably every 1 second or so with a soft touch and listening
to the character of the unison rather than trying to detect a "phase".  
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of ilex cameron ross
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:07 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: RE: How we hear to Jeneetah
 
So, with this 15 second rule, how long does it usually take you to tune
a piano?
 
just curious,
ilex
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of David Andersen
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 9:45 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: Re: How we hear to Jeneetah
Hi,

Maybe you should keep on making soft blows, but try to hit the key
quickly, without listening to the note during 15 sec like you said.
That way you'll be able to hear the "attack" of the note, the first
stage of the sound that is produced.
Having a clear and pure sounding attack is very important for me, and
I've never succeeded in having a clear attack when tuning with listening
to the note more than 2 or 3 seconds.

Sorry, Quentin, but I absolutely disagree; listening to the unison all
the way out to silence is the only way that works, for me, to get the
note completely still, completely blooming and rich. Period. 

That said, it really doesn't matter, ultimately, HOW you get a piano to
sound and feel beautiful; it just matters that you CAN.

Best of the day,

David Andersen 

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