Tuning stability and efficiency

[John Formsma]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 11:46 AM, Phil Bondi <phil at philbondi.com> wrote:

> Ben, re-read Tom Servinsky's post, and apply.
>
> A fellow 1-2 wedge convert,
>
> -Phil Bondi(Fl)
>

I second this, and say also ...
Just because a piano is some flat doesn't mean it can't be tuned well in one
pass with 2 mutes.  It does depend on how much flat it is, yes.  However,
one can do a decent job with some practice and good (perhaps lucky) guesses
on overpull.

I don't personally try a one-pass, open unison tuning for anything beyond
8-10 cents.  It is more work than doing a quick pitch raise followed by a
fine tuning.

Today, for instance, I did a 4-6 cent pitch raise along with the tuning.
 Tuned the temperament with a strip, then the rest with wedge mutes.
 (Muting the temperament is often faster for me, but I also do everything
with only wedge mutes sometimes.)

To successfully tune a flat piano, all you need to do is figure out how to
estimate your 30% overpull.  Let's say your flat octave is beating 4-5 beats
a second.  So you tune the octave about 1.5 bps sharp.  Then, as you go up,
you are constantly referring back to what you've already done.  If you're
paying the least bit of attention, you will notice if octaves are dropping
to the right place, or if they are going too flat.

I suppose one could expand this ability for pianos as flat as 15-20 cents,
but I haven't found it working all that well for me yet.

With this piano today, only had to correct a few notes that were off (some
flat - some sharp).  The total time was about 1.25 hours.  And it had that
nice ring of a piano that had been tuned with open unisons.
-- 
JF
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