Contiguous Major Thirds Accuracy?

[David Love]

When I was a strict aural tuner (or when I on occasion decide to tune a
piano the "old fashioned way") I used the CM3 method and to be honest never
measured or concerned myself with the degree of accuracy or cents
deviations.  The benefit of using the CM3 technique is that it accommodates
the changing octave stretch requirements of different pianos so the width of
the intervals will necessarily change from piano to piano.  Aural tuning in
this respect is more art than science and I wouldn't get bogged down by
potential variations in the cents deviation of the original ladder.  If the
problem is big enough it will become evident as you fill in the other notes.


 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Jeff Deutschle
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 4:26 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Contiguous Major Thirds Accuracy?

 

List:

 

There are many posts in the archives saying that a ladder of CM3s
(Contiguous Major Thirds) is very accurate, but nobody has says how
accurate.

 

I am hoping that some of the members of this list could say how accurately,
in tenths of cents, they are able to set a ladder of CM3s aurally before any
other notes are tuned for other checks.

 

Please don't think I am trying to start a fight. When I set a ladder of
CM3s, I am never sure that each note is exactly where it ought to be. And
when I do the math, it seems that there could be errors of 1.5 cents and
still have progressively beating M3s, although they might not sound evenly
progressive or have a 4:5 beat ratio. I am wondering how accurate they are
usually tuned by an experienced tuner.

 

-- 
Regards, 
Jeff Deutschle

Please address replies to the List. Do not E-mail me privately. Thank You.

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