William, your statements are dead on! The only person who can say that an ETD tuning is better than an aural tuning is a person who wouldn't know how to tune a piano in the first place. I have nothing against the ETD, I just have something against some of its users. If you are reliant on a machine to do all of your calculations you are in trouble. The truth be told other than the mechanics of handling the tuning lever the only other thing you do during tuning is calculating. If the world couldn't perform mathematical equations without a calculator we would be screwed wouldn't we? I have witnessed both good and bad tuning where an ETD or a ear was used. If you can't perform decent aural tunings you will find life is much more difficult as a technician. Getting to the point where I could do concert quality work was the hardest thing I have ever been through in my life. I had been a professional musician for some time, performed on 12 Grammy winning recordings, toured on 3 continents and did most everything you could do in the business. Learning to tune a piano was a different ball game and I'm proud of my work. An ETD is supposed to aid you in your journey not carry you. If the machine could carry a tuner we wouldn't have a job. No one would have any use for us anymore... Some people go the ETD route so they don't have to do that hard work of learning to tune aurally, and that's a problem or it can/will be in the future. To become a good craftsman you have to struggle and face your challenges. That's why some technicians don't join the PTG. They can't learn to tune the midrange by ear, so they can't pass the tuning exam and they know it. My opinion is the tuning exam is easy enough for a good technician to pass, and if we make it any easier I will drop out because the RPT designation won't mean anything anymore. Regards, Shawn Brock, RPT 513-316-0563 www.shawnbrock.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Monroe" <pianotech at a440piano.net> To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 10:38 PM Subject: [pianotech] Aural vs. ETD (was Verituner.....) > Duaine, > > In my opinion, it is like learning math before using a calculator. One > really should know how to perform an operation before letting the machine > take over. Otherwise, what are your checks? Even if your clients are > 100% satisfied with machine tunings, if it malfunctions in some way or > other, how would ever know, and how would you accurately check to confirm > if there was an error? > > Same with a calculator. I balance my checkbook with one, but I always > look at the numbers and see that they make sense. If they don't I double > check. If I didn't know how to do math, I'd never even know I should be > double checking. > > Please recognize I'm trying to be constructive here. > > William R. Monroe > >> Alan, >> >> I've done the one pass with the piano as much as 90-120 cents flat. >> >> Personally, I have not tuned for critical performances, however, my >> mentor has. He has been in the business 30+ years, learned aural tuning >> and now tunes with Cybertuner exclusively, except when the customer >> requests aural tuning. >> >> P.S. That is why aural tuning should be taken out of the RPT tests - >> meaning the machine can make a better tuning than aurally. >> >> Duaine > >
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