[pianotech] Final word on this subject

[Dean May]

No doubt, Duaine, there is plenty of that attitude. But to be fair you
should also say there is plenty of attitude on the opposite end of the scale
as well. It continually amazes me when I see top rebuilders on tuners on the
planet freely share on this list information that has cost them dearly. 

As for your comments regarding tunings: I started out using a quartz band
instrument tuner to set C4-C5, then tuned the rest of the piano using
octaves by ear. After hitting a couple of PTG seminars I learned about 3rds,
4ths, and 5ths, and I started listening for those progressions. This helped
me tune much better octaves, of course. I tuned this way for 15 years and
made lots of people happy, including my father who played professionally in
the Big Bands and my mother who was classically trained and had an MA. But
it was inadequate. 

I moved on to RCT on the laptop then on the PDA which definitely took the
tunings up a notch or two. Further involvement with the Guild made me want
to take the test so I began studying how to do an aural temperament. I got
to where I felt I could do a pretty decent job of it, even tweaking where
RCT said it should be. 

Now I use Tune Lab on the PDA and usually the Vallotti-Young well
temperament. Honestly, most of my tunings are 100% Tune Lab. But studying
the aural side of it has allowed me to make tweaks and adjustments and I am
happier with my tunings than ever (recently I put 3 temperaments on an older
short Kawai grand before finding one I could live with). 90% of my customers
could care less. But I have more confidence in my tunings than ever and am
deriving much more satisfaction in my work. Now I am not listening so much
for "in-tuneness" but the sweetness that comes when harmonics line up. 

I suspect, after tuning as long as you have, you are doing more subconscious
aural testing than you realize. If you would allow yourself to study the
interval side a little more you may find an ability to make some alterations
for things you previously felt you had to live with. 

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

 


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Duaine & Laura Hechler
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:29 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Final word on this subject

I quit the organization because of the pompous attitude that if your not
an RPT, your nothing.

I quit the organization because of the pompous attitude that unless you
are servicing grands, you nothing.

As far as ETD's, my mentor of 30 years, who - is - an RPT, is now tuning
exclusively with Cybertuner, reported that all of his customers reported
that the pianos have never sounded better.

Enough said,
Duaine

-- 
Duaine Hechler
Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ
Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding
Reed Organ Society Member
Florissant, MO 63034
(314) 838-5587
dahechler at charter.net
www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com
--
Home & Business user of Linux - 10 years