Aural tuning- 300 cents flat

[Michael Gamble]

Hello Greg
The ETDs in this answer do NOT cost an arm and a leg. They are cheap. All 
you need is an ETD which gives several "A"s - say 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 
443, 444, 445 - they are very inexpensive chromatic tuners and are 
frequently sold in music shops. Not high quality but quite adequate for your 
purpose. I always keep one in my kit for just such pianos. Please refer back 
in the Archives to my post "Raising xxx to Pitch" - about a year or more 
back, for the details on "how". Set the cheapo tuner to A=445 and tune all 
strings of all A's  and associated M3s to A=445. Then set to A=444.  and 
tune all M3's associated with B. Then set to A=443 and tune all M3s 
associated with G#. Finally set the ETD to A=441.( Note: 441.) and tune all 
M3s associated with A#. You will now have tuned the whole piano up to about 
A=440 and all that is needed is a final A=440 tuning. This being a cheapo 
ETD it will not "see" the extreme ends of the piano - so you have to do that 
aurally (in 8ves) The whole session should take no more than 90 minutes - 
plus dealing with any broken strings or other odds and sodds. You do it with 
the action IN PLACE. (no "chipping") My archived method goes more deeply 
into the process and further defines which strings to do and in what order. 
But you won't go wrong with the above truncated method.
Good luck!
Michael G(UK)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Livingston" <pianotuner440@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 6:42 AM
Subject: Re: Aural tuning- 300 cents flat


> Hello, friends,
>
> The super-flat piano mentioned in my original post was able to hold its 
> pitch at 425.  I usually just crank these babies right up to 440; 
> sometimes a bit higher if the piano is relatively new, then settle them 
> back down to 440.  I might be there all day but I will eventually get it 
> stable.  I hate to leave a piano under 440 and hardly ever do, and only 
> then for structural reasons.
>
> I didn't mind the three broken strings; they were in the high treble, 
> above the dampers, so they were easy to reach and I needed the practice. 
> What I worry about is bridges cracking, since no knot will fix those.  At 
> this time, I don't do shop work, and I'd have to farm it out (if I could 
> find someone to agree to do it.)
>
> As for getting an ETD to help with pitch raises, well, I wish I could but 
> with two kids in college, buying the daily newspaper sometimes can seem 
> like a luxury.  For the time being, I'll be 100% aural.
>
> If you've never dared a drastic pitch raise, here's what I do:
> -tighten all screws
> -strip-mute the whole piano to one string per note
> -pull A4 to 440 (if you dare)
> -tune A3 to A4; then A2, etc. all the way down
> -do the same thing for all the As going up
> -then tune the Es up and down, then the Bs, going through the cycle of 
> 5ths for the entire piano
> (F#, C#, G#, D#, Bb, F, C, G, D) so the added strain is spread throughout 
> the instrument
> -pull the unisons in
> -start the process over; you'll be much closer and more stable.
> -finally, begin to fine-tune the piano. It should be quite stable then.
> _______________________________________
> Gregory P. Livingston, Piano Tuning and Service
> 781-237-9178
> Piano Technicians Guild (associate member)
>                          *   *   *
> Always remember September 11, 2001
>
>
>